


Let Me In

by Jewsters1986



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Erwin Smith - Freeform, F/M, Hanji Zoe - Freeform, Levi Ackerman - Freeform, Mike Zacharius - Freeform, Trust Issues, attack on titan - Freeform, dita ness - Freeform, keith shadis - Freeform, moblit berner - Freeform, shingeki no kyojin - Freeform, traumatic past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-09-28 13:54:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10109399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jewsters1986/pseuds/Jewsters1986





	1. Chapter 1

Mike Zacharius furrowed his brows, causing his steel blue eyes to narrow.  
She was with _him_ again, but even when she wasn't his scent lingered on her.  
For someone so cold and detached from her comrades, she seemed to fascinate him beyond all reason.  
Leaning back against the wall, Mike watched closely as she and a short raven haired male walked across the courtyard together towards the ODM Gear maneuvers course in the forest to the east of the Survey Corps training ground.  
His arms folded across his chest, Mike tightened the fingers of his right hand around the fabric of his brown jacket.  
Raising his head slightly he inhaled deeply when a gentle wind picked up, catching her scent on it and once more also finding that of the raven haired male reaching his sensitive nostrils and lingering with hers.  
It was to be expected really, the two of them were practically inseparable.  
They trained together, ate together and always seemed to follow each other everywhere.  
The only time they seemed to part was at night when they each retired to their designated dormitories, even then they still refused to interact with any of their comrades.  
Mike snorted and rolled his eyes, he couldn't say he blamed them for their attitude...they weren't exactly thrilled about being members of the military.  
To them it was a means to an end, a choice they had to make and one that they would endure for their own personal reasons.  
Of course Mike knew of these reasons, it was thanks to himself and Squad Leader Erwin Smith that they were here in the first place...well two of them anyway.  
  
Several months ago, Erwin and Mike were dispatched on a mission to the Underground City, located beneath Wall Sina.  
Their mission was to capture four thugs who had stolen ODM Gear from the Military Police and trained themselves to use it, unbeknownst to the group, the Survey Corps had been watching them for a couple of months previous to their capture. Observing their formidable self taught skills and forming a plan to bring them up to the surface for an agenda that Erwin was serving, however the rising star squad leader had given little information to his comrades about why they were there, choosing to act on his own.  
Mike paid this no mind, he already knew of the other man's intentions but respected his comrade enough to let him do what had to be done and followed his orders unquestioningly.  
The mission proved successful and all four were brought to the surface and forced to become members of the Survey Corps, although due to their forced "enrollment" they distanced themselves from the other soldiers.  
One of them, the younger female Isabel he remembered, was slightly more open to trying to make friends with her now comrades, while Farlan one of the males would casually talk if someone else spoke to him first. The other two however, Levi and f/n refused to have anything to do with anyone in the regiment unless they deemed it necessary.  
Although the other scouts were not particularly welcoming of their presence and often looked down their noses at them, regarding them as scum because of where they came from, f/n and Levi showed no signs of caring.  
They were just glad to be able to live on the surface rather than in the dank and dirty environment of the Underground City.  
However on their first expedition, Isabel and Farlan were among the soldiers killed by an abnormal titan that stormed through the formation under the cover of bad weather conditions.   
After their deaths, Levi and f/n distanced themselves even further from the rest of the regiment, choosing to stick together at all times.  
It did however make them slightly more compliant when it came to expeditions, although in their grief they still showed some signs of rebelling.  
While Levi turned his grief inwards and further closed himself off from the world, f/n was not so strong.  
She took every opportunity to snap and snarl at anyone who dared to get too close to her or even look at her and training sessions became blood baths if she took a particular exception to anyone.  
Even Mike himself had been on the receiving end of her grief fueled anger.  
  
Whenever she was put on paperwork delivery duty as punishment for being disobedient or injuring another scout, she would storm into Erwin's office without knocking, slam his paperwork down on the desk with a scowl and then walk away without saying a word, usually slamming the door behind her.  
After seeing her in action against a titan, Mike's interest in the former thug started to increase and soon he found himself thinking about her more and more.  
When she wasn't scowling at everything she was actually quite pretty. Her h/l h/c hair was always neatly styled, her e/c eyes shone when the sun caught them, but what truly caught his attention and held it the first time he noticed her...really noticed her was her scent.  
The smell of cold dank air from her time in the Underground had long since faded, replaced by fresh grass and a hint of wild flowers. Yet there was always the lingering scent of black tea and soap mingled with it thanks to her constant companion, Mike didn't detest it as such, but it certainly tainted hers and made him wish he could cancel it out.  
His breath caught in his throat for a moment when he noticed that she had stopped and was now staring straight at him, her e/c eyes narrowed dangerously as her soft lips curled upwards into a sneer.  
Their gaze locked for a moment before she snorted and walked away, harshly bumping into another scout that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  
Shoving her shoulder heavily into him, she caused him to stagger backwards.  
"Hey watch it!" The soldier snapped angrily, instantly gaining f/n's attention  
Mike shook his head and narrowed his eyes as she lunged for the scout, hurling a barrage of abuse at him as he cowered and ran away before she could touch him.  
He was well aware it was all an act to cover the fact that she was still grieving the loss of her friends and to keep everyone else at bay, but this didn't mean that he was going to let it deter him from breaking down the walls she had built up around herself and finding out just what it was about her that was so alluring to him.


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Mike saw f/n it was evening meal.  
Once again she was sat in the far corner of the mess hall, distancing herself from everyone else around her and concentrating only on conversing with Levi.  
Sitting down with Erwin, Mike risked a quick glance over at them.  
His brows furrowed when once again her eyes locked with his for a moment before she averted her gaze and continued to talk to her friend.  
"Something wrong Mike?  
"Hmm?"  
The tall scout's attention was immediately pulled back to the table he was currently occupying, his steel blue eyes locking with a pair of icy blue orbs.  
"Something bothering you?" Questioned Erwin.  
"Not at all." Muttered Mike, turning his focus to the rather unappetizing bowl of soup in front of him and trying to push the rebellious young woman out of his mind.

After evening meal Mike made his way to Erwin's office and waited for the evening paperwork to be delivered.  
As Squad Leader Erwin's second in command and currently inline for a promotion to become a squad leader himself, he had decided to try and help out his friend and superior as well as gaining a better knowledge of the inner workings of how to run a squad by taking on Erwin's paperwork while he was off at yet another junior officer's meeting with Commander Shadis.  
He'd not long gotten sat down at the large oak desk while Erwin lit a couple of candles to help shed some light in the otherwise dark room, which was illuminated only by the pale silvery glow from the cold moon when the door was violently kicked open.  
They looked up just in time so see it bounce off the stone wall with enough force to make it splinter around the brass door handle as an angry young female scout marched into the office and unceremoniously dropped a pile of paperwork onto the desk, glaring venomously at the two men.  
Erwin raised a bushy eyebrow at her before she turned away, silently warning her to tone down her attitude.  
"You got something to say Blondie?" Spat f/n, folding her arms and smirking rather cockily.  
Erwin however remained stoic and silent, not giving her the satisfaction of a reply.  
"Yeah I thought so."  
With that she turned on her heels and started to walk away.  
"Slam that door and you'll be cleaning the stables for a month." He finally warned when he saw her slender fingers close over the brass door knob.  
"Bite me Eyebrows!"  
Mike visibly flinched when the wooden door slammed shut, the loud bang echoing off the stone walls for a brief moment before silence resumed.  
"It's not surprising she acts the way she does." He said nonchalantly, straightening the paperwork and starting to look through it. "She blames you for her friends deaths."  
The young squad leader said nothing, he didn't particularly care whether f/n held him responsible for what happened or not. As far as he was concerned they were just another necessary sacrifice on the road to taking back humanity from the titans.  
"I have a meeting to get to, just put everything in the top drawer for me and lock up if you're done before I return."  
Mike nodded and reached for the quill and ink pot at the far right of the desk as Erwin left the room, once again his thoughts turned to f/n.  
Despite the angry aura that radiated from her, the scent of fresh grass and wild flowers once again mingled with that of her male companion.  
Although there was no intimate relationship between the two of them, Mike couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed that his scent always seemed to cling to her like a second skin.  
Still there wasn't much he could do about it, she wasn't just going to abandon the only friend she had left...but maybe, just maybe he could make her see that despite what she might believe, not everyone who wasn't Levi was her enemy.

It was fairly late when Mike finished arranging Erwin's paperwork.  
As usual it was the same old tedious routine, documents alluding to expedition results, Erwin's formation plan and training reports.  
Placing the now sorted work into the top drawer of the desk as instructed, Mike blew out the candles on the desk before he rapidly freezing and sniffing the air.  
There it was again, the scent of fresh grass and wild flowers mixed with black tea and soap.  
Levi and f/n were close by, however the big question was why were they out of their dormitories at this hour and what were they planning.  
Hastily closing the drawer, Mike picked up the spare key from Erwin's desk and silently made his way over to the door, pressing his ear to it as the sound of muffled footsteps approached from outside.  
"Say what you want about these assholes, but at least they're too stupid to realize that it's us stealing their best wine!" Snickered a female voice.  
"Tch!" Came the simple and blunt reply from her male companion. "You know I only agree to this because I enjoy looking up at the sky knowing there's no ceiling to trap us."  
"Yeah I do, I just wish Farlan and Isabel were still here to enjoy it with us."  
After a few moments the footsteps faded and silence descended, leaving Mike stood alone in the office with just his thoughts for company.  
Eventually curiosity got the better of him and he decided to find out just where the two rebellious scouts were sneaking off to with their ill gotten gains, despite the fact he couldn't see where they had gone, he could certainly smell them.  
Making his way through the dim torch lit corridors of the castle he eventually followed their combined scent up a flight of steps and up to the top of the north tower, eventually stopping at a large heavy door where the cool night air slipped through the small cracks in the weathered wood and filled his nostrils.  
"Hmm, so they're on the battlements?" He muttered lowly to himself, scratching the stubble of his mustache with his thumb and forefinger.  
Normally the doors leading onto the battlements were kept locked at all times, yet he seemed to remember hearing f/n brag about her lock picking skills on several occasions.  
Shrugging it off, he slowly opened the door, being careful not to make it creak and alert them to his presence.

Raising one of the stolen wine bottles to her lips, f/n gripped the cork between her teeth and grunted, working it loose from its glass prison before spitting it out and trying to judge the distance it flew before beginning its descent to the dark grass below.  
"Here." She smiled warmly, handing the open bottle to Levi before reaching for the other.  
Levi took it from her and raised it to his lips, taking a long swig before turning his attention to the sky above and tutting distastefully.  
Working the cork loose from her own bottle, f/n spat it out and laughed.  
"Ha! Check out the distance on that bad boy Levi, that's gotta be a new record!"  
However when she turned back to face him her smile instantly disappeared and was replaced by a look of concern.  
"Levi? What's wrong?"  
"Tch, I can't see the stars tonight."  
"Huh?"  
Frowning, the young female looked up, noticing that her companion was right.  
Thick dark blue clouds with grey linings covered everything above them, blanketing the sky and making the world around them seem that much colder than what it really was.  
"Yeah, sucks doesn't it?"  
"It's like being back underground again."  
"No it isn't, remember what Isabel said the first time we did this?"  
Levi turned to look at her, his steel grey eyes narrowing while he let his mind wander back to the past.  
"We know there's no ceiling up there, the sky goes on forever." Quoted f/n, reaching for his hand and intertwining her fingers with his.  
"Yeah I know."  
F/n smiled sadly, watching him take another sip of wine.  
"Besides, once the wind picks up again it will cause a break in the clouds and if we're lucky we might manage a glimpse of the moon."  
Shuffling closer to him, f/n tightened her grip on his hand and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

Still unbeknownst to the two scouts, Mike stood silently a few meters away, watching them closely and listening to their conversation.  
Just how many times had they broken into the cellar and stolen wine so they could sit up here and reminisce? Probably more times than he could currently imagine.  
A smirk crossed his stubble framed mouth for a moment, if Commander Shadis ever found out about their antics he'd probably hang them upside down from the battlements by their ODM Gear and leave them there for the night.  
Although it was the sudden change in attitude from the two of them that really got the gears in his mind turning, especially f/n.  
The bitchy facade was gone, replaced by that of someone vulnerable and caring who deeply missed her friends and couldn't quite seem to come to terms with their deaths.  
While Erwin had been less than sympathetic at the loss of their friends, Mike had showed a little more compassion.  
When he saw other scouts making attempts to provoke a reaction from the two grieving soldiers, he would step in and remind them that they themselves were not immune to titan attacks and that they should be thankful they were still alive. He would also reason with them that any of their friends could be next to die on future expeditions and that they should remember that just because they didn't like where f/n and Levi had come from, or that they had been recruited into the regiment without undergoing the harsh three years training that they had, they were still their comrades at the end of the day.  
Thankfully this calm approach seemed to work, although Mike doubted whether either of them appreciated him standing up for them.  
In fact truth be told, he doubted whether they even noticed.  
To Mike, every life was precious.  
Whether someone was highborn or low, soldier or civilian...in these dark times, humanity had to survive and even these two thugs deserved a chance to live.  
They had pledged themselves to the Survey Corps rather than be handed over to the Military Police so they could be tortured and eventually killed for their crimes, which they more than likely only committed so they could survive in the hostile world of the Underground City.  
So in a way, Mike could understand why the two of them behaved the way they did.  
It was a survival tactic, trust no one and suspect everyone...that was probably the only reason they had lived as long as they had.  
Pursing his lips thoughtfully, Mike turned around and decided to head back inside the castle without confronting them.  
However as he did so, he failed to notice f/n lift her head from Levi's shoulder and look towards the door, watching him with suspicious curiosity when he disappeared through it.


	3. Chapter 3

Once again f/n found that strange scout who liked to sniff people when he first met them staring at her across the mess hall.  
She frowned and continued to watch him, what exactly did he want from her? It seemed like he was he always staring at her as if he wanted to say something, but somehow never seemed to find the words...  
"Oi f/n!"  
"Huh?"  
Breaking her gaze away from the tall blonde, she turned back to the source of the voice to find a raven haired male sat opposite her.   
Levi's cold grey eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest.  
"Tch, what's the matter with you?" He inquired bluntly. "Need to take a shit but it won't come out?"  
"Haha, you're such a comedian!"  
"So what's your problem?"  
F/n sighed and grimaced down at the bowl of lumpy lukewarm porridge in front of her, deciding she wasn't in the mood to eat the slop that passed itself off as "food" she pushed her bowl aside and rested her arms on the table, leaning forward as Levi did the same so they could talk privately.  
"That big nosed freak that captured us back in the Underground City won't stop staring at me."  
Levi raised an eyebrow and turned to look behind him, noticing that Mike was indeed looking in their direction.   
He seemed as silent and stoic as he usually was, yet there was an intense, almost unnerving focus to his stare that morning.  
"What's his problem you reckon?"   
"No idea." Replied Levi, a low growl rumbling in the pit of his throat.   
He didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to Mike, not that f/n blamed him for harboring a lingering hatred towards their comrade.

When Mike and Erwin had been dispatched to the Underground City to capture Levi and his friends, they hadn't exactly treated them as if they were fellow humans.  
After handcuffing them all and making them kneel in the middle of a filthy street, Erwin had ordered Mike to use physical force to make Levi answer his questions.   
This involved Mike grabbing his hair, yanking his head back rather hard and then slamming him face first into a puddle of dirty water to try and break his defiant silence.  
To say the raven haired male was angry was an understatement...he was absolutely furious! As were f/n, Farlan and Isabel.  
Levi had a rather strong aversion to anything even remotely dirty, he couldn't stand the idea of anyone touching him in case they got him filthy, so having his face pushed into a muddy puddle was not something he was happy about.   
"Yeah well I'm pretty sure he followed us onto the battlements last night." Continued f/n, turning her gaze back to Mike and narrowing her e/c eyes, sending a clear warning that unless he wanted her to go over there and slap him senseless he had better look elsewhere.  
Fortunately he seemed to take the hint and diverted his attention to the scouts at his table instead.  
"What makes you say that?" Questioned Levi curiously.  
"I'm sure I saw him when we were talking, although I can't be sure since it was dark. Someone definitely followed us though, I saw them leave and head back inside."  
"Then we'll just have to be more careful won't we?"  
"Yeah, I agree."  
F/n continued to glare in Mike's general direction, leaning back in her seat and curling her top lip into a sneer.  
There was something about him that she just couldn't quite get her head around, she wasn't entirely sure what it was that caused him to get under her skin so much when she barely interacted with him, or anyone else for that matter.  
However one thing was for sure, she hated the way he was able to agitate her so much without even uttering a single word to her...and one way or another she was determined to find out why.

After breakfast f/n and Levi made their way down to the stables and parted ways.  
Levi went off to the next stable block a few meters down the cobblestone path to where his horse resided, while f/n went to attend to her own horse.  
"Hey there boy!" She smiled, holding out a hand to the large dark brown animal.  
The horse snorted softly and nudged the outstretched hand before gently licking her fingers.  
Horsemanship was the first lesson on their training schedule that day, which usually meant mucking out the horses, grooming them and then saddling them up ready to take them out onto the training field for inspection and furthering their riding skills.  
"You fancy a treat?" She questioned, reaching into her jacket pocket and producing a bright red juicy apple that she had stolen from the officer's table when Commander Shadis's back was turned.  
The horse nodded its head, shaking out its mane and earning a giggle from her and she produced a sharp flip knife from her boot.  
"I tell you what, I'll share with you." She continued, cutting the apple into slices. "I haven't had breakfast this morning, otherwise I'd let you have the entire thing. I'd rather give it to you than see it wasted on those stuck up fuckers that run this dump!"  
Popping a slice into her mouth and holding it between her teeth she slipped her knife back into her boot and placed another in the palm of her hand, offering it to the horse.  
"Good boy, I'll get started on cleaning you and preparing you for training when we've finished eating."

Having followed f/n and Levi down to the stables, Mike watched as the two of them separated.   
Now that her raven haired companion was out of the way, he could now try approaching f/n and trying to find out what made her tick.  
Usually Mike could pick up on a person's traits, likes and dislikes with just a few short sniffs, however with f/n it was different.  
The fact that hers and Levi's scent seemed to infuse was throwing him off and it was only by watching and listening to them that he had managed to gain any information about them, so his next choice of actions was to try and strike up a conversation with them. Which was going to prove more than a little awkward considering that he was a man of few words, unless the occasion called for it of course, conversation wasn't exactly something Mike excelled at.  
Stroking the stubble on his chin with his thumb and index finger, he narrowed his steel blue eyes and leaned against the stable block wall while fixing f/n with an intense stare.  
One thing he had noticed about her during training was that she was very much like her deceased friend Isabel when it came to animals, she seemed to prefer to talk to them and avoid conversing with humans.   
This much was obvious when he noticed her pull a large red apple from her jacket pocket and smile warmly as she showed it to the horse.   
"Stealing from the officers again." He muttered to himself, his brows furrowing when she bent over and produced a sharp looking flip knife from her boot before standing up straight and proceeding to slice it up.  
A small smile tugged at his stubble framed lips upon seeing her take a piece for herself before offering one to the horse and sitting down on the hard concrete ground, drawing her knees up to her chest and leaning her head back against the wooden stall door.  
It was no secret among his comrades that Mike also held a certain fondness for animals, maybe that would provide a starting point for trying to strike up a conversation with f/n?  
Deciding to approach her, Mike squared his shoulders and started moving forward with large purposeful strides.

A deep sigh escaped f/n's lips as she held up another slice of apple for her horse before keeping the last one for herself.  
It was such a warm day, why did she have to spend it training? She'd much rather have just saddled up her horse and gone for a long ride in the countryside with Levi, yet instead she was being forced to train with all the other scouts who openly despised her simply for doing what needed to be done to survive.  
She hadn't chosen to be born in the Underground City, she didn't have a choice over whether she had to beg, borrow or steal in order to put food in her stomach and clothes on her back, so why the hell should she be punished for it?   
"Stupid surface dwellers." She scoffed around a mouthful of apple. "I'd like to see these bastards go through what Levi and I had to endure and come out of it with no mental scars!"  
"It might help if you actually tried talking to them."   
F/n froze at the sound of a deep male voice to her left, her e/c eyes widening in fright momentarily before narrowing in anger when she realized who was speaking to her.  
"Now why would I want to do a thing like that?" She snarled, instantly regaining her usual bitchy composure and folding her arms across her chest.  
Mike stared down at her silently, observing her closely.  
"Well?" She inquired again, refusing to stand up and address him, despite the fact that craning her neck so she could eyeball him when she spoke was hurting like hell.  
However the tall scout remained motionless and said nothing, simply staring at her in his usual stoic manner.  
"You know what, if you've got nothing to say just piss off you big nosed freak! Unless you're planning on handcuffing me and forcing me face first into a pile of horseshit, I seem to recall you like getting rough with people who you consider beneath you!"  
Mike's steel blue eyes widened marginally, did she seriously expect him to manhandle her?   
He'd only done that with Levi because he was following orders and her friend was being defiant, it was the only way soldiers were trained to get the answers they wanted when prisoners were being uncooperative. He had absolutely no intention of causing her any harm, right now he just wanted to try and work out why he seemed to be drawn to her like a moth to a flame and the only way to do that was to try and talk to her.  
"I have no intention of using physical force against you." He muttered, keeping his gaze fixed on her.  
"So what do you want?"   
"To offer some advice."  
"Ha!" Scoffed f/n, a rather cocky smirk finding its way onto her lips as she pushed herself up from the ground and placed her hands on her hips. "Well you know where you can shove it! If I want advice I'll talk to my friend."  
Mike exhaled deeply, this was proving more difficult than he had imagined it would. However he wasn't prepared to give up just yet.  
"I'm not your enemy." He started, trying to form the words he was thinking into some kind of sentence that wouldn't cause her to fly off the handle at him. "You're one of us now, a scout. You pledged your life to our cause, to humanity..."  
F/n's smirk widened, clearly amused by his words.  
"I'm a lowly thug from the Underground City who you and your surface dweller friends would love to see get thrown back down into the sewer where you all believe I belong."  
"You're wrong." Replied Mike evenly, taking a step towards her. Although he soon saw the error of this move when she tensed up and balled her hands into fists, ready to attack if he came too close. "We sought you out because we knew we could use the formidable skills you and your friends possess, maybe your comrades wouldn't be so cold if you'd actually tried to earn their trust."  
"You are not my comrade!" Spat f/n venomously. "The only comrade I have is Levi, now unless you want me to plant you like the big ass fucking tree that you are, I suggest you piss off and leave me alone!"  
"What's going on?" Demanded a voice from behind her, gaining her immediate attention.  
Mike lowered his head slightly, locking his gaze with the steel eyed glare of a certain raven haired male.  
"I'm fine Levi." Said f/n evenly, a dark glare settling over her features. "This asshole was just leaving."  
Blinking slowly, Mike conceded defeat and turned on his heels, walking away from the situation without looking back.   
This was going to be much harder than he had first thought.

As expected, the days training unfolded in a less than satisfactory manner.  
During the morning's horseman ship training, f/n had once again let herself be provoked by a scout making snide remarks about where she came from.   
Mike had done his best to warn the scout to behave himself, not wanting to see a fight break out, but this had once again proved unsuccessful and his warning fell on deaf ears.  
The situation finally escalated from name calling to full on violence, which resulted in the scout being sent to the infirmary with concussion and several suspected cracked ribs after f/n decided to teach him a lesson by having her horse attack him as he walked past her.  
She roughly spurred the animal and pulled back hard on the reins, making it rear up and deliver several powerful kicks to his torso while shouting a few abusive remarks of her own in the process, effectively making the situation worse.  
Commander Shadis was, of course understandably livid and as punishment, f/n was to be made to sleep in one of the storage sheds and be denied meal privileges until the next morning, not that she particularly cared.  
If anything she was happy about being away from the dormitory she was forced to share with some of the other female soldiers, maybe a night away from their constant late night chatter while she was trying to get some sleep would do her some good.  
The coldness of the night wouldn't bother her, she had grown up in the Underground City so a night in a shed was hardly going to kill her.

"You think he was too harsh on her?" Questioned Erwin, looking up from amending his formation plan for the next expedition to regard his friend.  
"She was provoked." Replied Mike evenly, continuing to stare out of the window at the setting sun. "However I don't agree with using her horse as a weapon."  
Erwin hummed thoughtfully, picking up a ruler from the desk and tapping it against the polished wood.  
"Sleeping in the storage shed is going to be the least of her problems on the next expedition."   
"What do you mean?"  
"Commander Shadis plans to split her and Levi up. Which reminds me, he's probably going to call you into his office tomorrow morning."  
Mike's brows furrowed and he turned back to look at Erwin, although he remained silent and waited for the blonde squad leader to elaborate.  
"He's approved your promotion..." Once again Erwin looked up, but this time he met Mike's gaze. "Congratulations Squad Leader Zacharius."  
"I see." Muttered the taller male.  
"You don't sound too happy about it."  
"I am, but...I just don't know who to pick for my squad."  
Erwin smirked.   
"Why don't you take f/n? You seem rather taken with her recently. I've already got the commander's approval to have Levi placed with my team."  
"Maybe." Shrugged Mike, turning his gaze back to the window and narrowing his eyes when he caught sight of a shadowy figure making its way across the training ground in the direction of the storage sheds. "I have something to do, I'll speak to you later."


	4. Chapter 4

Leaving Erwin's office, Mike quickly made his way along the dimly lit stone corridors towards the heavy wooden doors leading out to the courtyard.  
By the time he set foot outside, the sun had dropped below the horizon and the orange glow from its fading rays was the only source of light was the wall mounted lanterns that were currently being lit by the night sentries.  
Waiting until there was no one around, Mike unhooked one of the torches from its metal bracket and quietly made his way out of the courtyard and along the darkening dirt track that led out towards the training grounds and storage sheds.  
The familiar scent of wild flowers and fresh grass mingled with black tea and soap caught his nostrils, however this time the scents were conflicted.   
Instead of f/n's being the more dominant, this time it was Levi's, which could mean only one thing...

F/n growled angrily and punched the rolled up green fabric that was her scouting cloak into a more desirable shape before reaching for the tatty worn blanket that Commander Shadis had begrudgingly given her as a source of "warmth" for the night.  
Her empty stomach growled loudly at her, clearly protesting the lack of nourishment it had received that day, but this wasn't the first time the former thug had been denied a meal.  
Back in the Underground City, long before she had met Levi, Farlan and Isabel and integrated into their little group, there had been many times when food was scarce and there she was forced to go hungry.   
Depending on the circumstances this could last from anywhere between twenty four hours to several days, sometimes she wouldn't even manage to get so much as a crumb of bread and would be forced to steal moldy or rotten food which the merchants would casually throw away at the end of the trading day.  
Of course this made her ill afterwards, but in her opinion it was better than nothing, so she would force herself to make do.  
Things became a lot easier when she met Levi and he taught her how to use ODM Gear, snatching fresh still warm loaves of bread and juicy ripened apples for her and her new friends soon became second nature to her after that.  
Curling up into a tight ball, she covered herself over with the blanket and rested her head on her cloak, sighing deeply and shivering violently as she closed her eyes and tried not to think about the now strong wind outside blowing through the cracks in the rickety structure.  
Just as she was finally falling asleep however, the door creaked open and the sound of soft footsteps walking across the creaking floorboards caught her attention.   
Keeping the threadbare blanket pulled firmly over her curled up body, f/n carefully reached into her boot for her knife and silently flipped the blade into position, ready to attack this would be intruder.  
Waiting with baited breath, she narrowed her eyes when the footsteps stopped and a shadowy figure knelt down beside her, slowly reaching for the blanket.  
Without hesitation she threw it off herself and lunged forward, knocking her unwanted visitor onto their backside, pinning their arms beneath them with her legs keeping them in place and straddling their chest with the rest of her body weight.  
"Nice try asshole!" She sneered, pressing the sharp blade of her weapon to their throat. "However your stealth skills need some work!"  
"Tch, it's me you idiot!"   
"Levi?" Gasped the young female, instantly recognizing the bored tone with which her would be attacker spoke.  
Pushing herself from his chest, she stood up and held out a hand to assist her comrade, a relieved smile crossing her lips when he brushed himself down and removed the hood of his cloak.  
"I smuggled you some food out." He explained, reaching for a pouch that he had been concealing under the dark green material covering his uniform. "Although you probably just squashed it."  
"Levi you didn't have to." She replied, gratefully accepting the pouch from him and reaching inside. "What if someone saw you?"  
Her smile widened when she found two small but slightly out of shape bread rolls   
"It's all I could get my hands on." He said, ignoring her worried tone of voice and watching her eagerly stuff one into her mouth and rip a huge bite out of it.   
"Thanks Levi, I owe you one." She swallowed down her food and frowned. "Shouldn't you be getting back inside soon though? They're bound to notice you've gone?"  
"Tch, you think I'm letting you stay out here in this filthy thing on your own?" He snorted, running a finger over one of the dusty shelves before recoiling in disgust as the filthy dark residue now covering his skin. "Eat that bread, I'm going to make this place more habitable."  
F/n laughed and shook her head.  
"It's pitch black in here! The moonlight isn't bright enough for you to see what you're doing?"  
"I'll manage, I've cleaned worse!"  
"I'm glad you're still around to look after me." She smiled warmly, breaking off some of the bread and offering it to him. "At least have some of this first."  
"No, you need it more than me." He answered, looking around the dark space for something to use as a broom.   
He soon froze however when f/n approached from behind and pulled him into a hug.  
"Thank you." She whispered softly into his ear.

Approaching the row of storage sheds, Mike stopped and narrowed his steel blue eyes, sniffing the air.  
He didn't particularly want to check each individual shed to see which one she had taken refuge in, so he decided to see which one she was currently occupying by how strong her scent was.  
He hummed lowly and turned his attention to the one on the far left.  
Brows furrowing he slowly approached it and placed a large hand on the rusted metal door handle, testing its give before pushing it open with a loud squeak of its unoiled hinges.  
"What was that?" Whispered a muffled female voice.  
"I can see torchlight!" Came the hushed reply of a male.   
Not waiting for an invitation to enter, Mike pushed the door open fully and stepped into the cold wooden structure, bowing his head slightly so he didn't bang it off the low frame.  
Shining the torch around, its orange glow soon landed on the scowling face of Levi and the hunched over figure of f/n, protectively holding something to her chest.  
Staring impassively between the two of them Mike sniffed the air again and focused his gaze on Levi.  
"You shouldn't have come out here."  
"Tch, you expect me to leave her alone so you bastards can come out here and attack her while she sleeps?" Snarled Levi angrily.   
Mike ignored his remark and turned to look at f/n, his steel blue eyes locking with her e/c orbs.  
"You might want to eat that before the night sentry starts making their rounds." He said softly, nodding to the half eaten bread roll.  
"What do you want from us?" She snarled suspiciously. "Why aren't you threatening to report us to the higher ups?"  
Mike shrugged and remained silent, turning to walk away before finally replying.  
"Huddle up in the corner and share body heat if you want to stay warm, the sentry scouts won't come in but they will look through windows, so be careful."  
F/n's eyes widened marginally, however she still remained skeptical of the tall male's sudden act of kindness.  
"What are you up to?" Growled Levi threateningly.   
"Trying to prove that I'm not the enemy."   
Silence descended once more and Mike started to walk back towards the door, his heavy footsteps echoed off the wooden floor before he stepped out of the building and turned back to face them.  
His gaze fell on f/n for a lingering moment, taking in the shine of her e/c eyes as the moonlight caught them.   
"Try and get some rest, you'll need it for tomorrow."  
With that he quietly closed the door and held his head high, walking away with a stoic look gracing his features as he made his way back to the castle.

"Okay what the hell was that about?" Questioned f/n, scoffing down the last of her bread roll.  
"No idea." Shrugged Levi, removing his cloak and rolling it up before moving it into the corner he had not long finished cleaning before Mike's sudden arrival.  
He'd managed to stack several large hessian sacks containing old uniforms up against the wall to cover some of the cracks in the wooden structure of the shed and hopefully trap some more heat in, as well as preventing either himself or f/n from rolling over in the night and bumping into the wall.  
"Well I don't trust him." She said, shivering again and brushing crumbs from her uniform. "Who's to say that once he gets back to the castle he won't rat us out to someone?"  
"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Replied Levi evenly. "I'm not afraid of them."  
F/n giggled and shook her head, moving towards the sound of his voice she fumbled around in the dark space for her cloak and blanket.  
"Anything useful around here we can use for extra warmth?"   
The raven haired male hummed thoughtfully and started patting down one of the hessian sacks, fumbling with the drawstring opening he reached inside and pulled out a piece of dark colored material.  
"There are some spare cloaks here, put one one."  
F/n nodded and gratefully took it from him, wrapping it over her shoulders and fiddling with the clasp before realizing that it practically buried her.   
"Alright, I've also found a sleeping sack in the bottom of here."   
"Fantastic, although are you sure we can both fit in it?"  
"One way to find out."  
Levi laid the thick material out flat on the floor and climbed inside, shuffling as far over towards the edge of the side which was sewn shut and getting comfortable.  
"I think it's wide enough."  
With a curt nod which her companion probably couldn't see because of the lack of light, f/n climbed into the sleeping sack and snuggled up to him, resting her head on his chest and draping her arm over his stomach.  
"Okay it's a little tight, but to be honest it's a cold night so at least we'll be warm."  
Levi hummed and wrapped the open end of the material over her back, pulling her closer and rolling onto his side so he had a little more space without feeling too confined.  
"You go to sleep." He ordered. "I'll keep an eye out for those sentry bastards."  
"What?" Gasped f/n, struggling to keep her voice low in case they were actually nearby. "You should try and sleep too!"  
"Tch, we'll take turns. I'll wake you up in a couple of hours."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes, now go to sleep before I knock you out!"  
Struggling to suppress a giggle, f/n closed her eyes and snuggled into Levi's chest.  
However somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if Mike was going to stay true to his word and keep their secret liaison a secret from the other scouts...


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning when f/n and Levi returned to the castle, they entered the mess hall and were met by the accusatory stares of the other scouts.  
Clearly news of her attack on one of their comrades had gotten around fast and they were not in a particularly forgiving mood, nor were they willing to accept that the attack was completely provoked.  
Of course they wouldn't understand would they?  
These privileged bastards had probably never had to fight for their lives against other knife wielding thugs who wouldn't hesitate to stick their weapon into someone as soon as look at them, they'd never had to survive living in a place where the strong prospered and the weak were left to rot where they fell...  
Raising an eyebrow at a pair of male scouts who had been witness to her little attack yesterday, she stopped and folded her arms daring them to speak to her. However they refused and turned away to resume eating their breakfast.  
"Yeah I thought as much...fucking cowards!" Muttered f/n under her breath, making her way over to the serving hatch.  
Thanks to Levi sneaking some food out for her the previous night she wasn't completely starving, but she certainly wouldn't be complaining about the state of her meal that morning.

Sitting by himself across the mess hall, Mike sighed and shook his head.  
Turning his attention back to the unappetizing bowl of lumpy porridge in front of him, he idly stirred it and furrowed his brows.  
True to his word, he had neglected to mention anything Levi smuggling food out for his comrade and spending the night in the storage shed keeping her safe to anyone else in the regiment, however he doubted that either of them would appreciate it.  
"Mike."  
The tall blonde looked up and turned to his left, seeing the tall imposing figure of Commander Shadis standing over him.  
"A word in my office."  
Nodding silently, Mike stood up and returned his bowl to the serving hatch for the designated kitchen staff to deal with, passing f/n and Levi on the way.  
His gaze instantly turned to her, their eyes locking as they passed each other.  
Staring at her in his usual stoic manner he was answered with her furrowing her brows suspiciously, almost silently questioning why the hell he was looking at her yet again.  
It was obvious to him that she looked a little worse for wear after being forced to spend a night away from the relative warmth the castle provided, her e/c eyes seemed to have lost their rebellious sparkle and her body movements seemed more sluggish than usual.   
She clearly wasn't too fussed about appearance either if her current state was anything to go by, although there could be another reason for that.  
While Levi had clearly returned to his dormitory to wash and change, f/n had most likely decided to stage another little act of insubordination by entering the mess hall looking less than presentable.  
Her usually immaculate h/c hair was ruffled and out of place, her shirt and jacket creased up and her ODM Gear harness was sloppily buckled far too loosely to be of any effectiveness.  
Breaking eye contact he hummed thoughtfully, handing his bowl over to one of the scouts in the kitchen before making his was to the commander's office.

Moving to a quiet table in the corner of the mess hall away from the rest of the scouts, Levi and f/n sat down and turned their backs on the rest of its occupants.  
"You reckon that tall bastard told anyone what happened last night?" Inquired f/n, stirring her lukewarm porridge before forcing herself to eat some.  
"We'll soon find out." Mused Levi. "I haven't actually seen the commander today, if he had said something I doubt we'd be allowed to sit here now."  
"No I didn't notice him either, maybe that's a good thing."  
"Why do you suppose he's suddenly being so nice to us? Considering what he did to you back in the Underground City?"  
Levi shrugged and folded his arms, focusing his steel eyed gaze on the tall window opposite him.  
"He has to be after something" Continued f/n. "Nobody...and I mean nobody here is genuinely nice to us, not unless they want something."  
Levi clicked his tongue thoughtfully, knowing full well who you were referring to.  
On the first expedition they had taken part in, a female scout whose name he couldn't quite remember had approached him and his friends.  
She had seemed genuinely friendly, which caught all four of them off guard. Even more so when she had offered Isabel a bag of sweets before proceeding to question them about their self taught skills with the ODM Gear.  
What made the situation even more suspicious was the way she didn't seem at all upset or even bothered for that matter when Levi refused to talk about it, simply buying the reason that he wasn't very talkative because he was tired. The happy scout had simply smiled and said she understood before leaving them alone and returning to her squad, which understandably made them question her motives for approaching them with such kindness.  
Were there scouts in this regiment who were genuinely willing to give them a chance, or were they all just putting on an act for their own personal gains?  
"What is it?" Questioned f/n, looking at him worriedly.  
Levi was hard to read at the best of times, but over the years she had known him she had picked up on subtle hints that he seemed to display without even realizing it.  
One of them was that when he was deep in thought he usually sat or stood with his arms folded and focused his attention on an object somewhere in front of him, which was what he was currently doing.  
"Tch, something feels off."  
"What makes you say that?"  
"Gut feeling."  
F/n frowned and turned her attention back to her food.  
She trusted Levi implicitly, so if he said something was amiss, she believed him.

Halting outside Commander Shadis's office, Mike exhaled deeply and raised his fist, knocking three times on the hard wood.  
"Enter." Came a harsh voice from the other side.  
Doing as he was asked, Mike entered the office, closing the door behind him. Walking up to the large oak desk where the commander was sat, he saluted when he halted.  
"As punctual as ever Mike." Remarked Commander Shadis nonchalantly, placing the papers he had just been reading into one of the desk drawers before giving his subordinate his full attention. "I called you in here because I want to speak with you about your role within this regiment."  
Mike already knew what was coming thanks to a tip off from Erwin last night, however he chose to remain silent and impassive.  
"The next expedition is two days away and I've decided to promote you to Squad Leader, you're one of my best soldiers and I feel you've earned it."  
"Thank you Sir." Replied the tall blonde gruffly.  
"I trust you will be able to put together a squad before then?"  
"Of course...permission to make a request Sir?"  
Commander Shadis's amber eyes narrowed slightly.  
"What do you want?"  
"Erwin tells me he has taken Levi onto his team and not f/n, he tells me you said they are to be split up."  
The commander sat back in his seat and folded his arms, raising a curious eyebrow. Usually Mike followed orders without hesitation, so why was he now questioning him over such a trivial matter?  
"What concern is that of yours?"  
"I wish to place f/n on my squad." Said Mike evenly.  
"Really? Why?"  
"I believe she deserves a chance to prove herself, if she can be taught to rein in her anger issues."  
"I see." Mused Commander Shadis thoughtfully, curiosity evident in his tone of voice. "You believe you can succeed where others have failed?"  
"I don't, but I'm willing to try."  
"Fine, f/n l/n will be placed with your squad, you are free to choose anyone else you wish to join you. That will be all, you're dismissed."  
Mike nodded and saluted before turning on his heels and leaving the office, now that he had managed to convince the commander to let him place her on his squad, he needed to break the news to f/n...which wasn't going to be an easy task.

With the next expedition only two days away, squad selection was taking place and as usual the squad leaders were looking over each individuals record to see whether they wanted to make any amendments to their current squads.  
F/n and Levi had reluctantly stood with the other scouts on the parade square, only they were sat off to the side on the raised platform away from everyone else.  
Thankfully no one had bothered to approach them today, which was probably for the best. However that did not stop some of them from casting glances at the two former thugs, rolling their eyes in annoyance and muttering under their breath about not understanding why they were still allowed to continue their service to the regiment.  
"So which loser do you think we'll end up with this time?" Snorted f/n, kicking the back of her heels against the solid brickwork.  
Their last squad leader a man whose name they didn't even bother to remember had been eaten when he mistimed a maneuver.  
A fourteen meter titan had caught him in its large hand and swallowed him whole without hesitation, however his sacrifice had allowed the rest of the squad to get away and send up a red flare alerting the rest of the regiment to its presence. Not that f/n and Levi cared, they had been more preoccupied with trying to make it back to the safety of the walls alive.  
There was a part of them that felt slightly guilty about his death, given that he had ordered the squad to keep moving forward while he dealt with the imminent threat...until they remembered that he had called them both "sewer rats" before departing from the Shiganshina District, after that it was amazing how quickly their sympathy evaporated and they felt no remorse for his demise.  
"Levi."  
The raven haired male looked up and narrowed his steel grey eyes at the blonde male stood in front of him.  
"You're on my squad, follow me."  
"Oh great we're stuck with this twat are we?" Grunted f/n, folding her arms and eyeballing the squad leader.  
"You will not be joining us." Said Erwin firmly, fixing her with an icy stare. "Commander Shadis has ordered the two of you be separated."  
F/n couldn't help but feel her blood boil at the smug tone with which Erwin spoke, he was clearly relishing telling them this news which just made the situation worse. Her hands curled into fists as she prepared to jump up from her seat and launch an attack, not caring about the consequences of doing so.  
"What makes you think I'll leave her behind?" Inquired Levi, keeping his arms firmly folded across his chest.  
"I'm sure Commander Shadis can arrange for you to sleep in one of the storage sheds, or perhaps you would prefer a dark damp prison cell?"  
Levi's jaw twitched slightly, he may have had better control over his temper than his female companion, but that didn't mean he wasn't just as angry as her.  
"Move. Now."  
"Tch!"  
"Go, I'll be fine." Encouraged f/n, reaching out and gently squeezing his shoulder before getting cocky and raising her voice. "They can split us up for training and expeditions all they like, it won't change anything!"  
Rolling his eyes, Levi jumped down off the wall and reluctantly followed Erwin as he retreated through the crowd of scouts, leaving f/n sat by herself to wonder which lucky squad leader would have the pleasure of being on the receiving end of her endless array of colorful language and insults.

Upon reaching the parade square, Mike had already made his mind up about who he was going to choose for his squad.   
He had considered it carefully last night after being told that he was being promoted and was sure he had come up with a balanced team that would serve him well.  
Scanning his surroundings, his sight eventually fell upon a messy brown haired woman stood with her back to him, who was laughing rather manically at a nervous looking male with light brown hair and seemed to be trying to back away from her with a look of fear in his hazel eyes.  
"Hanji, Moblit."   
The two soldiers turned around, the females puppy brown eyes widening behind a pair of specialized grey battle goggles when he approached them.  
"Mike!" She squealed excitedly. "I just heard the news about your promotion to Squad Leader, congratulations!"  
Mike gave her a small smile and nodded.  
"I want you and Moblit on my squad."   
"What? Really? Wow we'd be honored! Wouldn't we Moblit?"  
"Erm...of course Squad Leader." Stuttered her male companion. "Who else will be joining us?"  
"I've already asked Dita Ness and he's accepted, our final member will be f/n l/n."  
Moblit seemed to pale at this information, while another manic smile started to spread across Hanji's face.  
"Does this mean we get Levi too? Oh please say we do!"  
"No." Said Mike evenly, not feeling the need to explain Commander Shadis's orders to separate them.   
That information was on a need to know basis and as far as he was concerned, they did not need to be made aware of this decision.  
"Squad Leader are you sure this is a good idea?" Questioned Moblit. "From what I've seen, f/n has a highly unstable temper and it would only take one wrong word for her to turn on us."  
"She will not react unless provoked." Replied Mike reassuringly, looking up when the scent of wild flowers and fresh grass subtly infused with black tea and soap caught his attention.  
Looking over towards the the raised platform a few meters away, he noticed a certain young female scout sat by herself looking very angry.  
Sighing deeply he squared his shoulders and started to walk over to her.  
"Oh this is so exciting!" Squealed Hanji, barely able to contain herself as she and Moblit followed Mike so they could collect the last member of their squad before they commenced their training for the day.

F/n's frown deepened as she continued to kick her heels against the brickwork of the raised platform she was currently sitting on.  
Anger still bubbled away in her gut at the idea that the one person within the entire regiment she trusted had been torn away from her, silently vowing that one way or another, she was going to make Commander Shadis pay for this spiteful act.  
She knew Levi would be okay without her, he was the strongest, stubbornest person she had ever met and he certainly knew how to handle himself if a situation got hairy, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to worry about him.  
He had always been there looking out for her since they first met. It had taken a little time to develop a sense of trust, but the two of them had quickly bonded, especially when she struck up a deal with him and his friends that if they were ever operating in the same area she would share her loot with them, provided they were willing to do the same.  
Eventually after her den was raided and set ablaze, destroying everything she owned bar the clothes on her back and a few scraps of food she had managed to salvage that day, Farlan had suggested that she come and live with them.  
The small house might have been a little cramped with Levi and Farlan sharing a room while f/n bunked up with Isabel, but in her mind it was almost like having a family again and she came to love being in such close proximity to them.  
Of course this hadn't lasted, now Isabel and Farlan were dead, Levi was all she had left and if she lost him too...  
"There she is!"  
F/n blinked rapidly and almost fell backwards as a brown haired woman with a manic smile gracing her pretty features suddenly appeared in front of her.  
"Hey f/n, it's been a while since I've seen you! You do remember me don't you?" She pressed on, not even stopping for breath or allowing f/n the chance to reply. "I'm Hanji, this is my friend Moblit!"  
F/n's brows furrowed when a nervous male was pushed towards her, fear evident in his hazel eyes as he scrambled backwards the moment he was released from Hanji's grasp.  
"What do you want?" Growled f/n, regaining her composure and narrowing her e/c eyes suspiciously.  
"You're our new squad mate!" Said Hanji excitedly. "There's another scout, Dita Ness but you'll see him later. Come on our squad leader Mike is waiting for us!"  
"Mike?"   
"Mike Zacharius! Come on you know who I mean, the big guy who likes to sniff everyone!"  
"That overly tall freak isn't a squad leader!" Scoffed f/n, shuffling around so she was now sat with her back to them. "Piss off and leave me alone."  
"I'll handle this Hanji, go find Dita and wait at the stables." Came a deep voice from somewhere behind her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.  
"Okay Squad Leader!" Replied the enthusiastic female, completely unfazed by f/n's hostility. Reaching for Moblit and grabbing his arm, she dragged him off before he could even utter a word of protest, the only sounds leaving his mouth being cries of shock as he was nearly pulled off his feet.  
Once they had gone, Mike moved to stand closer to f/n and clasped his hands behind his back.  
"Commander Shadis has ordered you to be placed in my squad." He said gently.  
"Do I look like I give a shit?" Came the harsh reply from the former thug, still keeping her back to him. "I bet you had a hand in him choosing to split up Levi and I didn't you, I already know that bastard Erwin Smith was involved."  
"No I didn't, nor have I mentioned anything about last night."  
"I don't believe you."  
Mike sighed and loosely clenched his fists, trying to get through to her was like trying to climb a building without ODM Gear.  
"I told you last night, I'm not your enemy. If I had reported the incident then you and your friend would've been punished by now."  
F/n tensed up, her e/c eyes widening marginally at his words.  
Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe he had actually kept his word and stayed quiet about discovering Levi sneaking food out to her before spending the night sleeping in the storage shed with her.   
Not that is made a difference in her opinion, he still had plenty of time to inform the commander of what had happened. Even if she and Levi denied it and accused him of lying, Commander Shadis would believe him over them so punishment would be inevitable.  
Finally turning her head so she could see him out of the corner of her eye, f/n regarded the tall newly promoted officer with her usual suspicious glare.  
Why the hell was it this soldier in particular had the ability to get under her skin in a way that none of the others could? Why was he seemingly so hellbent on trying to gain her trust?  
"What exactly do you want from me?"  
"I already told you." He answered evenly. "To prove to you that I'm not your enemy, nor is anyone else in this regiment despite what you think."  
An awkward pause passed over the two of them as they continued to stare at one another before Mike broke it by turning to walk away.  
"Today's training is about to begin, follow me."  
F/n hesitated for a moment, scanning the now emptying parade square for any sign of Levi.  
A deep frustrated sigh was released from her lungs before she reluctantly pushed herself off the raised platform and brushed herself down, deciding that any given the current attitude, any punishment Mike gave her couldn't possibly be worse than what Commander Shadis would probably throw at her.


	6. Chapter 6

'For fucks sake doesn't this bitch ever shut up?' Wondered f/n as she reluctantly saddled her horse ready to head out onto the training ground for squad formation maneuvers practice.  
"Hanji you're a maniac!" Shouted Moblit angrily. "You hear me? A maniac!"  
F/n grunted and rolled her eyes, adjusting the saddle straps and pulling the reins over her horses head ready to mount it.  
The other female was far too happy about the upcoming expedition for f/n's liking and her constant shrieking was starting to give her a headache.  
"You've had enough of Hanji's motor mouth too huh?"   
Spinning around to face the source of the voice, f/n silently furrowed her brows at a young brown haired man with dark eyes and a trimmed beard leading a dark brown horse.  
"Sorry didn't mean to startle you." He smiled, offering his hand in greeting. "We've not been formally introduced yet. I'm Dita Ness, you're f/n right?"  
The former thug remained silent, her gaze flicking down to his outstretched hand for a moment before returning to his face without returning the polite gesture.  
Feeling slightly embarrassed by her rudeness, Dita's smile disappeared as he lowered his hand and placed it on his hip.  
"I've heard you're quite skilled with the ODM Gear, I look forward to seeing you in action."  
F/n's eyes narrowed suspiciously, she didn't recognize this particular scout, not that she bothered taking any notice of them. She only recognized a handful of them, purely because they had the nerve to provoke her anger by mentioning her past.  
"Look I get it." He said evenly. "You're not used to being treated like a human, so I'll let the silent treatment slide. I will just say however that we're not all assholes who judge people on where they come from or what they used to be."  
F/n turned back to her horse and pulled down the stirrups, mounting it and getting comfortable in the saddle. Without sparing the friendly scout a second glance she gently kicked her horse's sides and clicked her tongue, encouraging it to move off, completely oblivious to Dita rolling his eyes and shaking his head.  
"Hey, where's she going?" Asked Hanji, appearing at his side and watching f/n curiously as she halted her horse a few meters away near the end of the stable row.  
"I don't know." Shrugged Dita, patting his horse's neck. "I'm not keen on our odds of working together as a team with this one though, she clearly doesn't want to be a part of it."  
"Ah she's probably just shy, nothing a little girl talk won't remedy though!"

Levi stood at the starting point of the ODM Gear maneuvers course, pulling out a fresh set of blades he started to walk forward towards the entrance to the forest.  
His new team consisted of all men, the others introducing themselves as Keiji, Klaus and Dirk, not that Levi took any notice of them.  
Erwin stood off to the side of the entrance, watching him closely as he prepared to launch himself up into the trees and take on the course.  
"Remember to go easy on the gas this time." Warned Erwin sternly. "You need to learn to be more conservative with it and try to keep the theatrics to a minimum."  
The raven haired male rolled his eyes, ignoring pretty much every word the squad leader had just said before firing off his grapple lines and feeling them pull at his waist as his feet left the ground.  
Further along the course, Keiji was waiting at the first dummy.   
His slim fingers gripped the thick ropes that once pulled, would lower the wooden structure into place and block Levi's path.  
Narrowing his dark brown eyes when he heard the sound of gas being expelled, he tightened his grip on the rope and watched closely for the scout appearing through the mass of thick trees.   
After a few moments, he saw a blur of brown and white fabric come flying towards him.  
Taking that as his cue to act, Keiji grunted and pulled down hard on the rope, allowing the imposing titan shaped dummy to fall into position ready to be attacked.  
Narrowing his steel grey eyes, Levi released another quick burst of gas and quickly adjusted his hold on the blade in his right hand so it was pointing out behind him rather than towards the front.  
Slipping under the training dummy as it descended, he fired his grapple line into the large branch above and retracted it.   
Shooting upwards he sliced through the "nape" of the training dummy before ricocheting off the branch and continuing down the course, leaving Keiji in complete awe of just how quickly he had dealt with the target.  
"Shit!" Gasped the scout, unable to believe the incredible skill he had just witnessed. "How the hell did he do that so quickly?"  
Reaching the end of the course Levi was met by Erwin, who despite his impressive performance was less than pleased.   
"You're still using too much gas and performing unnecessary maneuvers." Warned the taller male, his icy blue eyes narrowing disapprovingly.   
"Tch, I get the job done don't I?" Snorted Levi, rudely striding past him without looking him in the face.   
"Do you want to die like your friends did?"  
Levi stopped in his tracks, his fingers tightening their hold on the blades he was currently carrying.   
It was extremely tempting not to turn back to face the tall blonde and run him through, but what would that achieve? It would make him feel better yes, Erwin deserved it after all for that crass remark about Farlan and Isabel's deaths, but it wouldn't bring them back.  
"You fight the titans your way and I'll fight them my way." He scoffed, proceeding to walk away back towards the start of the course for a second run.  
Erwin folded his arms and shook his head, deciding against going after him.   
So much for Commander Shadis thinking that Levi might be a little more controllable if he and f/n were separated, although he could imagine that Mike was having just as many problems with f/n as he was with Levi.

Mike carefully adjusted the flare pouches attached to his horses harness and looked over to where f/n was stood a few meters away, once again distancing herself from the rest of the squad.   
Her rebellious attitude didn't seem as blunt as it usually was, although he figured the reason for that was because she was most likely tired and hadn't slept too well in the storage shed.  
So far she had been quite compliant in her training with the rest of the squad, granted she wasn't exactly making much of an effort to be friendly with them, but she was seemingly willing to follow any orders he gave and was working well with them, so it was a start to say the least.  
Whether this was because they weren't judging her for her past or because she was more concerned about Levi's welfare however he couldn't say, although he suspected deep down that it was a mixture of both.  
Once more he found himself completely intrigued by her.  
Something in the back of his brain kept telling him there was more to her than met the eye, that beneath that hard faced mask she always wore was someone warm and caring desperately trying to hide themself away from the cold cruel world.   
He was even more sure of this than ever having seen her interacting with Levi on the battlements when they had stolen some wine from the cellar, she had acted completely different when she thought it had just been the two of them.   
Maybe that was what Mike found so fascinating about her, the way she could switch from being completely focused and uncaring to kind and even vulnerable.  
Perhaps all she needed was someone to show her that it was okay to let that side of her show itself every now and again, that she didn't have to let the negative judgement of others drag her down and prevent her from being who she really was.  
She probably hadn't wanted to be a thug, but it was a means to an end.   
A survival tool, at least that was the impression Mike got from watching her interactions with Levi.  
"I don't see what everyone's problem is with her, apart from being antisocial she seems perfectly fine to me." Mused Dita, taking a sip of water from his flask.   
Mike's head snapped around to regard the other three members of his squad, who were stood a few feet to his right, also watching f/n with interest.  
"I think it has something to do with people provoking her." Said Moblit worriedly. "The scout she attacked yesterday really laid into her verbally from what I heard."  
"I'm gonna go talk to her!" Said Hanji brightly, handing the reins of her horse to Moblit before he could protest and briskly walking over towards the lone scout.   
"Hanji wait!" He called after her, before looking pleadingly at Mike who remained as stoic and silent as ever.   
However part of him was curious as to how f/n would react to Hanji's attempts at trying to get to know her better...

Looking out across the training field, f/n loosely clutched her horses reins in her right hand.  
Her e/c eyed gaze focused intently on the horizon, taking in the sway of the trees as they moved in gentle breeze while the fluffy white clouds slowly crossed the pale blue sky above.   
She'd much rather have been training with Levi, however she was reluctantly forced to admit that this squad wasn't so bad.  
For a start, none of them were saying or doing anything to provoke her defensive temper, although she was extremely uncomfortable with the way they were making an effort to be openly friendly with her.  
In f/n's experience people were only ever nice to her when they wanted her to do something they lacked the nerve to do themselves, such as stealing from merchants or teaching someone had betrayed them a lesson. Any other time people looked down at her like she was nothing, a mere inconvenience they had to share the same air as.  
This of course had in turn led to her having a serious lack of trust in her fellow humans, all except Levi, Farlan and Isabel of course, who she considered equals since they endured the same narrow minded prejudice that she was forced to face every day of her miserable life in the Underground City.  
A gentle snort from her horse roused her from her thoughts, closely followed by a subtle nudge of her arm, indicating that it wanted her attention.  
Cracking a small smile she turned to face the large animal and rested her head against its muzzle, reaching up and scratching its ears when it lowered its head and scuffed a hoof off the grass.  
"Aww, someone really likes you."   
Jumping back, f/n looked behind her with wide eyes for a split second before regaining her composure and staring at a certain bespectacled brunette.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Giggled Hanji, walking up to her and patting the horse's neck. "Why are you over here by yourself? Come and relax with the rest of us, I promise we won't bite. We're not titans after all."  
Rolling her eyes f/n looked away to the horizon again, silently wishing that this mouthy bitch would get the hint and go away.  
"Look I get that you're a little shy but..."  
"I'm not shy, I just don't want to talk to any of you!" Snapped f/n, keeping her back to Hanji.  
"Why?"  
"Go back to your squad and leave me alone."   
Hanji frowned and ceased stroking the horse, cocking her head to one side.  
"Is this about yesterday? We're not all so judgmental of you and Levi you know."  
"Look I've tried being polite, now I'm not asking you anymore...I'm telling you. Piss off!"  
"Sorry Sweetie, no can do!" Giggled Hanji. "You're the only other girl on this squad and I need you to stick up for me when the boys decide to start being clever."  
"You're all the fucking same!" Snarled f/n angrily, spinning around to face her and making her jump back in shock. "The only time you assholes are ever nice to me or Levi is when you want something!"  
"No I didn't mean it like that..."   
"Bullshit!"  
"No really I didn't!" Explained Hanji, taking a cautious step forward and trying to meet the former thug's gaze. "I merely meant that when the boys decide to try and gang up on me, it would be nice to have another female on my side to help even the odds when it comes to playful banter."  
Having heard enough f/n looked away and folded her arms, a deep sigh escaping her lungs as she gritted her teeth. Why was everyone so hellbent on trying to manipulate her into being their "friend" all of a sudden, what were they hoping to achieve by doing so?  
"You had it rough before coming here didn't you?" Questioned Hanji softly, pressing on with her questioning rather than waiting for an answer. "That's why you don't trust any of us isn't it? That's why you lash out at those who comment on what you were, I know you didn't choose to do those things back in..."  
"Shut up!"   
"You did what you had to because it was the only way you would survive."  
"Stop fucking talking!" Yelled f/n angrily.  
With a blinding turn of speed she turned around and grabbed the other female by her jacket collar, pushing her face close enough to her so she could see her reflection in her tinted battle goggles.  
"Hanji!" Yelled Moblit, rushing over to find out what the commotion was about, closely followed by Dita and Mike.  
"Stay back!" Warned the bespectacled brunette, holding out an arm to stop them coming any closer. She then turned her attention back to f/n and smiled warmly. "It's okay Sweetie, I can understand why you still have trust issues. Some of us haven't exactly been welcoming of you have we?"  
F/n swallowed hard, her grip on Hanji's jacket tightening further as she gritted her teeth.   
Her top lip quivered slightly as she fought back the urge to respond further to her persistence, however something deep in the back of her mind was preventing her from reacting further.  
Isabel.  
The way this scout had been with Isabel on the night of their first expedition kept replaying itself over and over in her mind.   
The way she had approached them all with that annoyingly happy and sunny disposition, the fact that she had been kind to them all, given Isabel her bag of sweets and seemed to take a genuine interest in their skills with the ODM Gear.  
Exhaling deeply, f/n shoved Hanji away and lowered her arm.  
"Leave. Me. Alone." She growled shakily, turning away so no one would see the angry tears forming in her eyes.  
"Go and prepare the horses for the next phase of today's training." Ordered Mike, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on f/n.  
"Yes Squad Leader." Replied Moblit, taking hold of Hanji's arm and leading her away, closely followed by Dita.  
Once they had left, Mike approached f/n.  
"Take a moment to calm down and then come join us." He muttered softly, hesitating slightly before walking away.   
However as he did, he couldn't help but hear the single choked sob that escaped the former thugs lips.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully.  
Levi continued to ignore pretty much every word Erwin said to him and f/n made it her mission to try and put as much distance between herself and her new squad as humanly possible.  
When they met up at lunch and then again at evening meal, they had exchanged views on their new squad mates.  
Levi of course had nothing positive to say about being on Erwin's squad, while f/n had mixed views about serving on Mike's.  
She opened up to him about the little incident with Hanji, expressing her concerns about whether or not they were trying to manipulate her so they could find something to use against her should they want to try their luck at provoking her.   
Part of her couldn't help but wonder if Hanji and the others were genuinely trying to give her a chance, but as usual her deep routed sense of distrust reared its head and she quickly shot down the idea, agreeing with Levi and sticking with the notion that they were merely trying to get inside her head.

With training now finished for the day, Mike made his way to his newly designated office and sleeping quarters.  
One of the perks of being an officer was that he no longer had to share sleeping quarters or a bathroom with the rest of the scouts in the barrack blocks.  
Lighting the candles on the polished oak desk he took his seat and rested his elbows on its surface, placing his chin on his palms and closing his eyes.  
Training could've gone better, after f/n's little altercation with Hanji, the atmosphere within his new squad had still been quite tense.   
F/n was still refusing to interact with any of them unless absolutely necessary, which was making things extremely difficult for him with regarding preparing them to work as a unit ready for the upcoming expedition.  
Before he could contemplate further, a knock at the door jerked him out of his thoughts and pulled his attention towards it.  
"Who is it?" He called.  
The door opened and a tall blonde male walked through, closing it behind him.  
"I just wanted to see how you were settling in Squad Leader." Smiled Erwin, approaching the desk and taking a seat in the chair opposite Mike.  
Mike shrugged and sat back in his chair, folding his arms.  
"F/n giving you trouble still?"  
"Yeah."  
"I've been having problems with Levi as well." He mused, furrowing his bushy brows. "It seems that splitting them up hasn't done as much good as what Commander Shadis was hoping it would."  
Mike said nothing, his steel blue eyes narrowing slightly when the memory of f/n's reaction to her altercation with Hanji crept to the front of his mind once more.   
Something Hanji said had really knocked her sideways, otherwise why would she be so upset?  
"By the way, Commander Shadis is holding a pre-expedition briefing first thing tomorrow morning after breakfast. There'll be a memo with all the details when you receive your evening paperwork." Said Erwin, interrupting his thoughts and pulling his attention back to the here and now.  
Mike however responded only with a single nod of his head, his thoughts once again starting to drift to f/n.  
Returning the gesture, Erwin stood and silently made his way back towards the door, however he stopped just before reaching for the shiny brass door knob.  
"If f/n and Levi continue their refusal to follow orders, the commander has said that we are free to use whatever discipline necessary to make them more...compliant."   
"Understood." Said Mike evenly, although truth be told he had no reason to punish f/n for what had happened today with Hanji. He was trying to gain her trust, not further alienate her the way the rest of the regiment seemed to be doing.  
Exiting the office, Erwin closed the door quietly behind him, leaving Mike to sit and brood while he waited for his paperwork to be delivered.

"Oi f/n!"   
A small smile crossed f/n's face at the familiar bored tone calling her name.  
"Levi!" She turned around to greet her friend. "You heading up to the battlements?"  
He narrowed his steel eyed gaze upon noticing the stack of papers she was carrying. "Tch, that sniffing freak has you on errand duty then."  
"Yeah, listen I shouldn't be long once I've dropped this shit off." She mused, adjusting her grip on the large pile of paperwork. "Shall I meet you in the usual spot when I'm done?"  
Levi nodded but before he could reply the sound of boots hitting stone interrupted him.  
"Ah f/n there you are!"   
The two former thugs turned their heads and were met by the sight of a very flustered Hanji skidding to a halt beside them.  
"Oh Good Evening Levi!" She smiled before turning her attention back to f/n. "Listen Sweetie, I just wanted to see how you were after what happened during training today."  
"I'm fine." Replied f/n evenly.  
"Okay, good."   
Hanji nodded and nervously flicked her gaze between the two of them for a moment, waiting to see who would speak first.  
"Anything else?" Asked f/n, strongly hinting that the bespectacled brunette should be on her way if she had nothing else to say.  
"Oh, erm nope, I don't think so."  
"Then piss off Shitty Glasses!" Grunted Levi, leaning back against the wall and narrowing his eyes.  
"Okay bye!" Giggled Hanji, happily skipping off down the corridor, closely watched by f/n and Levi.  
"Shitty Glasses?" Laughed f/n, feeling genuinely happy for probably the first time that day.  
"Tch, how the hell do you put up with her?" Inquired Levi, looking back to her once the happy scout had disappeared.   
"Good question, I have no idea! For all her quirks though she seems genuinely nice, it's strange really."  
"Hmm, well I still don't trust anyone here."  
"Yeah I know." Replied f/n, her smile disappearing as she furrowed her brows thoughtfully. "Like I said earlier though, I seem to have gotten lucky with the squad I'm being forced to serve with. They've not said one bad thing about either of us."  
"Well keep your guard up, I'll see you on the battlements."  
F/n nodded and smiled, watching him walk off down the dimly lit corridor before disappearing into the black shadows where the orange glow of the torchlight failed to penetrate.  
Sighing deeply she continued walking in the opposite direction until she found the room she was looking for and setting her face in an emotionless frown, she entered without knocking first, deciding that the sooner she got this over with...the sooner she could leave.

Mike's head jerked up at the sound of the door being opened, his eyes widening slightly when he saw f/n walk in carrying his paperwork for the evening.  
The fact that she had entered unannounced didn't bother him and it wasn't like he was surprised to see her, he had been expecting her since he had delegated her to bring him his workload.  
What did surprise him and spark his curiosity was the lack of emotion showing on her face, which seemed all the more unreadable thanks to the pale orange glow from the candles on his desk which barely chased away any shadow covering her features.  
Approaching the desk she unceremoniously dumped the papers down in it, however she didn't slam them down and practically scatter them the way she had a couple of nights ago when she had brought Erwin's work. This time she only placed them down roughly enough to cause the neat pile to to go a little askew, nothing that a quick shuffle wouldn't remedy.  
As she turned to leave, Mike found his voice and decided to try once more to get her to open up to him.  
"Don't stay on the battlements too long tonight." He said softly, stopping her in her tracks. "It's a cold night and we only have one more day of training before the expedition."  
Turning on her heels, f/n glared at him with a raised eyebrow, her suspicions about him now being confirmed.  
"So it was you watching me up there the other night." She replied lowly. "Why?"  
"You want to be careful, stealing from officers can land you in a cell for quite some time."  
Unfortunately for Mike, his friendly warning didn't have the desired reaction he was hoping for.  
"Are you going to report me to the higher ups? Or now that you're a squad leader are you going to deal with me yourself?"  
"I have no intention of reporting it, just like I won't be telling anyone about Levi sneaking food out to you or staying in the storage shed."  
"Yeah well I wouldn't care if you did." Shrugged f/n nonchalantly. "Being locked up doesn't bother me, all I've done since joining the Survey Corps is swap one prison for another."  
Mike sniffed the air and shook his head, watching her as she turned to walk away again and hastily left the office before he could utter another word.  
Once again he had failed to make any headway with earning her trust, despite reaffirming that what had transpired the previous night would remain secret.  
"Shit." He muttered under his breath, reaching for the pile of paperwork and retrieving a pen from the top drawer so he could start his paperwork.  
He knew full well that trust was something that had to be earned over time, but unfortunately...this like so many other things was firmly against him.


	7. Chapter 7

The day of the expedition finally arrived, greeted by a deep sense of dread and foreboding by the members of the Survey Corps as they once again assembled in the Shiganshina district.  
The large stone gate leading to the world beyond the safety of Wall Maria was the only thing that stood between them and their potential deaths at the hands of the titans, it was inevitable that not all of them were going to make it back alive...if at all.

F/n tightly gripped the reins of her horse and swallowed hard, her e/c eyes fixed on the gate before her.  
Slightly to her left she heard the now too familiar voice of her excited squad mate Hanji.  
"Ah come on open the gate! I wanna go see some titans!"  
Rolling her eyes, f/n tutted and looked towards the front of the formation, hoping to catch a glimpse of Levi.  
This was the first expedition where they wouldn't be serving on the same squad, so naturally she wasn't feeling very confident about their odds of survival.  
With near enough the entire regiment firmly against them, if they ran into trouble while apart her main concern was that her so called "comrades" wouldn't be willing to help them out.  
"Levi, where are you?" Muttered f/n, desperately looking over the ranks for any sign of him and being sorely disappointed when she found nothing but a sea of green cloaks bearing the Survey Corps sigil on the back.  
The two of them had spoken briefly during breakfast and managed to find out where they would be in the formation, f/n being placed around the middle of the right wing and Levi somewhere near the command squad in the center rank.   
In all fairness he was probably a lot safer than she was, but this still didn't put her frantic mind at ease.   
This was full blown titan territory they were about to once again enter and if she had learned anything over the past nine months of being a scout, it was that expeditions were completely unpredictable and it was always best to prepare for the worst case scenario...

"Gate opening in thirty seconds!" Called a voice from the front of the assembled soldiers.  
Swallowing down the lump in her throat f/n exhaled deeply and shifted her weight in the hard leather saddle, mentally and physically bracing herself ready for what was to come. An action that did not go unnoticed by Mike.  
The tall squad leader slowly turned his head to his right, his brows furrowing when he saw f/n visibly trembling at the sound of the heavy gate being raised ready for their departure.   
Normally the former thug was practically unshakable, nothing would phase her. Maybe it was because she wasn't with Levi that this new worrying vulnerability was showing itself, in which case she would need to get her act together fast if she wanted to have any hope of surviving this latest venture.  
"He'll be alright." Said Mike, trying to make himself heard over the loud grinding of the gate slowly rising before them. "Try and concentrate on yourself."  
F/n whipped her head around to face the source of the voice next to her and narrowed her eyes angrily.   
"Know that for sure do you?" She growled, her tone dripping with malicious intent. "If anything happens to Levi I'll kill every single damn one of you, starting with that shit stain of a commander!"  
Mike shook his head and sighed, turning his attention back to the gate as it locked into place with a loud thud that echoed throughout the district with enough force to make the ground beneath them quake.  
Thankfully the rest of the surrounding scouts hadn't heard f/n's thinly veiled threat, however unfortunately for Mike knew full well she meant every word.  
Levi was her best friend, practically like a brother to her and the only thing keeping her from going completely off the rails and landing herself in a hangman's noose.  
"Today we take another step forward for humanity!"   
The tall blonde's head jerked up, his eyes narrowing as he heard the loud gravel laced voice of Commander Shadis addressing the regiment.   
"Show them the fruits of your training, let the titan's taste humanity's wrath!"  
The entire regiment seemed to roar in approval at his words, raising their blades to the sky.   
"The thirtysecond expedition beyond the walls will now commence!" 

The sound of horse's whinnying as they were spurred into action filled the air, quickly followed by the pounding of hooves on concrete as they started to charge forward towards the gate.  
Leaning forward in his saddle and gripping the reins tightly as his horse entered the tunnel leading to the other side of the wall, Levi gritted his teeth and squinted up at the bright sunlight as he emerged into the sprawling grasslands on the other side of Wall Maria, pushing his horse forward as the condensed scouts started to spread out and prepare to move into the long range formation.  
Erwin and the rest of his squad hadn't even bothered to acknowledge his presence that morning, not that he cared. He had more important matters to worry about, mainly whether f/n would survive this expedition or not.  
The thought of losing her after already having Isabel and Farlan meet a painful demise at the hands of the titans weighed heavily on his mind, he knew full well she was strong and capable of looking after herself. Their time in the Underground City together had already proved this beyond doubt, but that didn't stop him for worrying about her safety. She wasn't invincible and neither was he, furthermore this was the first time they had been split up on an expedition and neither of them were happy about it.  
They had both voiced their anger about this over breakfast, however they had a plan for if things got too hairy.  
Depending on the situation, they would break away from their respective squads and attempt to find each other. To hell with the consequences, their so called comrades didn't care whether they lived or died so weaving through them should be child's play.  
"We're clear of the wall!" Called a scout from behind them, passing on an oral message from further down the line.  
"Deploy long range scouting formation!" Ordered Commander Shadis, his loud voice almost ringing in Levi's ears given the close proximity to the Command Squad.  
Erwin gave the signal and the crowded scouts started to split up and move into position, opening up more space around them as they galloped over the open fields.  
Looking over to his right, Levi narrowed his eyes and started to go over the formation lay out in his mind.  
F/n was going to be located roughly three ranks behind him by the time they had gotten into formation, she wasn't with the outlying squads, but she was far enough out that she was within the confines of the early warning network and scout support squads which would be running spare horses and the first port of call when relaying signals.  
Turning his attention back to where he was going, he spared Erwin a momentary glance when he caught him staring at him.  
A warning look greeted him when his steel grey eyes met the icy blue orbs of the blonde squad leader, clearly Erwin didn't trust him not to break ranks and try to find f/n...

It was nearly an hour into the expedition and so far, no titans had been sighted.  
To any normal person this would've been considered a good thing, but for the scouts, it was a mixture of good and bad.  
Good in the sense that they wouldn't need to worry about losing anyone...for now.   
However it was bad because when things were too quiet, it usually meant that when trouble did finally hit them, it would usually come in the form of an ambush that could potentially throw the formation into disarray.

Mike sniffed the air and looked to his right, his brows furrowing as he concentrated on his surroundings.  
Humming thoughtfully he looked over to Dita, narrowing his steel blue eyes and addressing him.  
"Get ready to launch a flare, I'm almost certain I can smell at least two titans heading this way."  
"Yes Sir!" Replied Dita, reaching into one of the saddlebags for his flare gun.  
Turning back to his right, Mike sniffed the air again and tensed up.  
"Red flare now!"   
F/n's ears pricked at the sound of the tall blonde male ordering her comrade to fire off a signal for the rest of the formation, something about the current situation didn't make sense.   
She hadn't seen a titan since they left Shiganshina, so why was the newly promoted squad leader ordering his comrade to fire off a flare indicating that a titan had been spotted? Was he losing his nerve already?  
"Are you blind or something?" She scoffed, not caring about the disapproving look Hanji was currently giving her. "There's nothing there!"   
"Two of them are approaching fast." Replied Mike evenly. "I can smell them."  
"Yeah of course they are!"  
"No f/n he's right!" Gasped Hanji, a huge grin spreading across her face as a loud steady thudding sound filled the air. "Look at those beauties! Oh such a shame we'll end up slaughtering them, I would've so loved to see what was rolling around in those large bloated bellies!"  
"Huh?" F/n turned around and looked to her right again, her eyes widening in shock as two twelve meter titans burst out of the trees and came walking towards them with giant strides.  
A loud crack, followed by a fizzing sound caught her attention a few seconds later as Dita fired off a red smoke signal, warning the rest of the formation about the impeding threat.  
"Don't engage them unless they come within fifteen meters of the formation." Ordered Mike, looking over to his left as a steady stream of red flares began to fill the sky.  
"Currently forty meters and closing Squad Leader!" Called Moblit, not taking his eyes off the approaching targets.

"Sir, I suggest we move further to the east immediately!" Called Erwin, trying to make his voice heard above the sound of hooves pounding against the open fields of grass. "It might be an idea to also tighten the formation, the clouds overhead are starting to darken."  
"Alright, send up the flare and send a message down the line Squad Leader."  
Levi glared at Erwin for a moment before turning back to look in the direction of the streaks of red smoke now filling the sky.  
F/n was somewhere around the middle of the right wing where most of the flare signals were coming from, surely if they'd engaged the titans he would've heard something by now. They were part of the early warning network after all, so if they hadn't sent an oral message down the line that must mean she was still safe right?  
"Levi, fire off a green flare to your left!"   
"Tch!"   
The raven haired male reached into the saddle bag on the right hand side of his horse, pulling out a flare gun and loading it with a green cartridge before firing it as told.  
His steel grey eyes once again turned to look over to his right as another steady sequence of smoke signals started to appear across the formation.  
"Keiji, send an oral message down the center rank to the next squad and inform them we're pulling together."  
"Yes Squad Leader!" Replied the scout, steering his horse off to the right before doing a U-turn and heading off in the opposite direction.  
Levi gripped the leather reins tighter and continued to glare ahead, rain during expeditions always put him on edge.  
If it became to severe, visibility was reduced and the squads would end up grouped so closely together that maneuvers became near impossible to pull off without causing injury. It would also make it much easier for a titan to storm through the formation and crush anyone who got in the way before they had a chance to react.  
Looking towards the sky once more he narrowed his steel grey eyes and gritted his teeth.  
Ominous black clouds were beginning to sweep over them, chasing away the light and darkening the world below. Another thirty or so minutes and the first drops of cold rain would probably start landing on them and with no shelter or military outposts to take shelter in, the soldiers of the Survey Corps would need to wisely put all of their training to good use if they wanted to make it home alive.

"Start heading east!" Called Mike, holding his flare gun above his head and firing off a green smoke signal to the left.   
"Titan's are thirty meters and closing!" Shouted Moblit, panic rising in his voice.  
"Fuck this!" Growled f/n under her breath.  
Pulling hard on her horse's reins and making the animal whinny in protest, she started galloping off towards the two titans.  
"F/n wait!" Screamed Hanji worriedly, however the rebellious scout was already several meters away before anyone could react.  
"Get back here!" Yelled Mike angrily, unable to believe that she was being so reckless.  
F/n however wasn't listening, she continued riding towards the titans and drew her blades, concentrating on the one furthest away from her.  
"Time to die!" She snarled, looking up into the titan's ugly bulbous eyes before firing off her grapple lines.  
They soon found their mark in the titan's shoulders and a moment later she was pulled from the saddle, flying though the air towards it.  
A large hand reached out to grab her, but she was ready for. Twisting her body she slashed through its fat fingers with ease and squeezed the trigger on her left blade handle, deploying a quick burst of gas and speeding towards the titan's nape.  
Seconds later the hulking monster was a dead heap on the floor, a steaming cut in the back of it's neck where its nape had been carved out.  
"Now it's your turn!"   
Once again deploying her grapple lines, she launched them at the other titan which had no decided that she was a much more interesting target than the rest of the formation which was currently heading away east.  
It would take f/n a while to catch up with her squad, however that didn't bother her. All she cared about right now was taking down the final titan that was thundering towards her, its heavy footsteps echoing through the air and shaking the ground beneath it.  
She felt the familiar tug at her hips as the grapple lines found their anchor in the titan's right side just below it's midriff, a little too low for f/n's liking but she would deal with it.  
Rushing towards the target she retracted her right grapple line before quickly firing it upwards again and watching it anchor itself to the titan's shoulder, a small grin spreading across her lips.  
"I've got you now you bastard!"   
Releasing another burst of gas, she brought her blades up as the nape came within range, swinging wide and slicing through it like it was nothing.  
Balancing on the titan's head as steam rose from its corpse, it hit the ground with a loud thud, almost throwing her forward with the force of its landing.  
Calling her horse, she quickly mounted it and started to make her way back to her squad as several large fat drops of water landed on her head and started to dampen the ground on which she was riding, thankfully she managed to catch up with the formation and rejoin her squad within minutes.  
"F/n what the hell?" Gasped Ness when she appeared beside him. "We were told not to engage them!"  
"I got rid of the bastards didn't I?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes and pulling her hood up when the rain started to come down heavier.  
"That's not the point!" Interrupted Mike, earning him a raised eyebrow and a look of thinly veiled contempt and deciding against arguing with her, she wouldn't listen anyway.   
Without Levi present to keep her in line, she was not only a liability to herself, but also to the entire squad.

Large drops of water saturated the land, reducing visibility as a harsh wind picked up and blew water into the faces of the scouts.  
While the hoods on their cloaks offered some protection from the barrage of rain, it still reduced their capability to see more than a few meters in front of them.  
The command squad remained firmly within Levi's sight, however he still couldn't stop his mind travelling to f/n and wondering if she was okay.  
It had been at least forty minutes since the last oral message telling the formation that the mission was aborted due to the lack of visibility and to head back to the wall, swinging back around in a U-turn the entire formation back tracked the way they had come. A sensible decision overall considering the danger they were in increased tenfold when their line of sight was so severely compromised that they wouldn't be able to see a titan until it was right on top of them.  
A fear that was all too quickly realized...  
"Commander Shadis!" Screamed a voice to the left, panic clear in its tone. "Several abnormals have managed to break through the left wing, they're heading straight for the center rank.  
"Then engage them, the formation will head west to try and avoid more casualties."  
"Yes Sir, I'll relay the message!"  
"Prepare for combat!" Ordered Shadis, struggling to make his voice heard above the combined noise of the rapidly falling rain and strong wind. "I'll keep the formation moving forward."  
"You heard the commander!" Yelled Erwin, turning to look back at his squad. "Engage and destroy!"

"Damnit the rains really coming down hard now!" Gasped Hanji, pulling her cloak back up over her head when the wind caught it and blew it down.  
"I can't see a fucking thing!" Shouted f/n angrily. "Where the hell are we meant to be going?"  
"We must be nearly back at the wall by now!" Said Dita hopefully. "Although at this rate I doubt we'll see it until we crash head first into it."  
"Keep calm!" Instructed Mike, "If we change direction we'll receive an oral message first."  
"Squad Leader Zacharius!"  
All eyes turned to the lone scout that now approached and pulled his horse level with Mikes, shouting as loud as he could to make himself heard.  
"We're heading west, a group of abnormals has penetrated the formation." Explained the scout, raising a worried gasp from Moblit. "Squad Leader Smith and the commander are engaging them."  
"Squad Leader Smith." Muttered f/n under her breath, her e/c eyes widening in horror a moment later. "Oh no, Levi's in that squad!"  
"What?" Quizzed Moblit, his head snapping around to face her.  
"To hell with this bullshit!" Screamed f/n, spurring her horse into action and once again breaking away from her squad.  
"F/n stop!" Yelled Mike, watching her gallop away to the east. "Damnit! Dita take charge, keep moving with the rest of the formation. I'm going after her."  
"Yes Squad Leader!"  
Steering his horse away to the left, the blonde squad leader took off in hot pursuit of the rogue scout.


	8. Chapter 8

Squinting against the onslaught of heavy rain, f/n weaved her way through the ranks of scouts.  
Their shouts and curses of "who the fuck are you?" and "Where the hell are you going?" fell on deaf ears, the only thing she cared about right now was making her way to the front of the center rank where the command squad was.   
The current weather reminded her of the expedition when Farlan and Isabel had been killed, she had been powerless to save them, but she would make damn sure that she wouldn't lose Levi in the same way.  
"Shit, I must be nearly there by now!" She cursed, tightening her grip on the leather reins and struggling to take in her surroundings.  
Hooves pounding the wet ground and kicking up water in their wake filled her ears, clearly audible over the sound of the howling wind that echoed around her.  
"Damnit Levi where are you?"

Mike pulled the hood of his green scouting cloak further over his head to try and shield his eyes against the barrage of rain that was currently hitting his face, the force of it was so strong it felt like a thousand tiny pin pricks against his skin.  
There was no sign of f/n anywhere near him and the rain was doing little to help him keep track of her via her scent.  
That was the one big problem Mike faced when he was on expeditions in this weather, it always seemed to cancel out his sense of smell.  
It masked it and made it damn near impossible to tell when any titans were near unless they were practically within ten meters of him and ready to attack, so searching for the wayward scout was proving to be an impossible task.  
He'd known from the start that separating f/n and Levi was going to be a bad idea and now he had been proved right, she was willing to risk her life and disobey any order given in the hope of making sure her friend stayed alive. While he admired her unconditional loyalty to Levi, Mike knew that it could well be her downfall.  
However that wasn't going to stop him from chasing after her with the intention of keeping her alive.  
"Where the hell is she?" He grunted, spurring his horse and trying to gauge an idea of where he was.  
Finally he came upon a lone scout galloping towards him like the hounds of hell themselves were chasing him, his eyes were wide with fear and there was blood on his uniform.  
The lack of steam and evaporation was a clear indicator that this was human blood and not that of a titan.  
"Squad Leader Zacharius!" Gasped the panic hoarse voice as the scout drew nearer and finally skidded to a halt. "You have to retreat, there are abnormals up ahead!"  
"Where is the rest of your squad?"   
"Dead Sir. Commander Shadis and Squad Leader Smith managed to take out two of them but then six more appeared! They retreated and I haven't seen them for a while."  
Mike cursed under his breath.  
"Did you see a lone female scout heading in this direction?"  
"Yes Sir, she was heading east towards the command squad.  
"Alright, use your acoustic rounds every few meters." He ordered, kicking his horse hard and pulling back on the reins, making it rear up and whinny loudly before galloping off again. "Someone is bound to respond eventually."  
"Yes Sir!"  
Leaning further forward in the saddle, Mike tightened his grip on the horses reins and pushed on ahead, silently praying to whatever gods existed that he could find f/n before it was too late...

Levi landed roughly on the soaked grass and looked around as yet another titan fell with an echoing thud, a steaming hole where its nape had been.  
He'd lost track of Erwin and the others during the sudden ambush from the east thanks to the weather, not that he cared.   
He had a rough idea which direction was the route back to the outer gate of the Shiganshina district, although whether or not he would be able to stay on track and not deviate would be another matter entirely if the titans kept showing up like this.  
So far he'd put down three of the six abnormals that had ambushed him and his squad, thankfully the weather was also making it hard for them to find him by sight alone, so their attacks were clumsy and uncoordinated.   
The next one came at him quicker than he had anticipated, however the ground shaking beneath his feet gave away its location with ease and he was able to dodge just before a large open fingered palm came sweeping towards him.   
"Tch, filthy creature!" Grunted Levi, deploying his grapple line and feeling it embed itself in the titan's shoulder before he retracted it and sped towards his target, blades drawn ready to strike when its nape came within range.  
Slicing through the weak spot with a single clean cut, Levi turned his attention to his next target: A twelve meter crawler class with bulbous eyes and an ear to ear smile charging straight for him.  
However before he could formulate a plan of attack, the hulking monster fell flat on its face and skidded across the muddy ground, revealing a deep steaming cut in its neck.  
"What the?"  
"Levi!" Yelled a familiar female voice, a shadowy figure riding the titan's head appearing through the thick sheets of rain.  
"F/n?" He asked, lifting his hood slightly.  
The figure stood up and sheathed their blades, throwing back their hood and revealing the smiling face of a young woman with e/c eyes and h/l h/c hair.  
Unfortunately Levi's relief at seeing f/n alive was short lived, another titan had suddenly appeared behind her and was currently leaning down over her with its mouth wide open, ready to devour her.  
"F/n behind you!"   
"Huh?"  
F/n turned around and screamed, managing to jump aside just as the titan's huge white teeth clamped shut around the now empty spot she had occupied a split second earlier.  
"Forget about it!" Shouted Levi, letting out a shrill whistle to signal his horse. "Let's just get back to the formation before they leave us too far behind!"  
"I won't argue with that!" F/n called back, spotting her own horse stood a few meters away to her right and making a dash for it.  
Once they were both mounted they quickly started heading south towards what they hoped was the formation and not another titan ambush, however the remaining abnormal behind them had decided to give chase.

The loud ringing of an acoustic round filled the air, gaining Mike's immediate attention.  
Squinting through the rain, he could just make out the blurry shape of a scout coming towards him, closely followed by a ten meter class titan.  
"Help me please!" Called the soldier desperately veering their horse off to the right when a large sweeping arm of the beast reached out and grabbed them, pulling them from their horse and raising them to the waiting mouth.   
Mike deployed his grapple lines and launching himself towards his target in a burst of gas.  
Sadly he was too late, the titan devoured its victim mere moments before he was able to slice through its nape, killing it with a single blow.  
"Shit!" He cursed, locating his horse and remounting it before continuing his search for f/n.  
Fortunately he didn't have to travel far before the sound of hooves belonging to a horse that wasn't his own became audible over the howling wind.  
Mike didn't want to get his hopes up, but even if it wasn't his missing rogue squad member, at least someone else may have made it this far alive.  
Two hooded figures soon came into view.   
Slowing down as they got closer, Mike eventually stopped and waited to see who they were.  
"F/n?" He questioned, his steel blue eyes widening when he recognized the familiar dark brown horse that he knew belonged to the former thug.  
"Move your ass unless you want to get eaten!" She shouted instinctively, temporarily forgetting that she didn't have any regard for the lives of anyone expect Levi. "There's a thirteen meter class somewhere behind us!"  
Failing to see any titan's behind them, Mike decided that retreat was probably the best option for now.  
"Alright, follow me!" He called, turning his horse around and leading them back towards the general direction of the formation. Berating f/n for running off and disobeying his orders could wait until they were back behind the safety of the walls.  
However they hadn't got very far when the sound of screaming cut through the air and caught their attention.  
"Damnit, the formation must be all over the map!" Grunted Mike, loading an acoustic round into his flare gun and holding it above his head.   
Pulling the trigger the sound once again rang out, over the fields and being met with a purple flare in return.  
It was barely visible through the thick rain, but thankfully it was close enough to be seen.  
Mike knew he couldn't just abandon his comrades, but he also didn't hold out much hope of f/n and Levi being willing to help assist them.  
"Somebody please help me!" Screamed a female voice. "My gear is broken!"  
F/n's breath hitched in her throat, her e/c eyes widening in horror at the spoken words.  
a horrifying flashback of her friends final moments before her untimely death entering her mind.   
Those exact words had been the last that Isabel had ever spoken before she and Farlan were brutally killed.  
"Hang on Isabel!" Screamed f/n, steering her horse towards the source of the voice before she could stop herself.  
"F/n wait!" Yelled Levi, giving chase and being closely followed by Mike.

F/n continued galloping through the rain, not looking back once despite Levi shouting out to her.  
However she wasn't in the right frame of mind to listen to him.  
Painful memories of her first expedition, coupled with a rush of adrenaline were currently affecting her better judgement and she was working purely off the instinct of trying to save her friend from dying a horrible death.   
Another loud scream reached her ears, much closer now. However it was quickly followed by a loud roar which cancelled out all other noise around her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.  
"No!" Yelled f/n angrily, tears beginning to blur her vision. "No! I won't watch you die again! Just hang on!"  
"Somebody please!" The voice cried out again.  
Finally f/n came upon a large blurry hunched over figure, far too large to be a human.  
Roughly wiping her eyes on the back of her jacket sleeve, the former thug drew her blades and started to form a plan of attack.  
Drawing closer she came to the realization that this was the very same abnormal titan that she and Levi had previously fled from, it had clearly gotten bored of chasing them and was now occupying itself with what could only be described as a much easier to obtain meal.  
Sucking in air through her teeth, f/n launched her grapple lines and reeled herself in once she felt them find their mark in the targets flesh.   
However thanks to the rain suddenly coming down even heavier than it already had been, which in her mind should've been impossible, her vision was even more heavily obscured that what it previously had been.  
She missed the titan's nape completely and ended up crashing into its strong cheekbone with enough force to dislodge the anchors attached to her grapple lines and send the titan staggering a few feet to its right, while she crashed to the ground in front of the terrified scout.   
"Fuck!" Snapped f/n, pushing herself up onto her knees and feeling herself down for injuires before checking her gear.  
"You...you saved me!" Gasped the female scout, her voice trembling from relief as much as fear. "Thank you!"  
"Huh?" F/n blinked rapidly and regarded her with a curious frown, taking in her auburn hair, bright blue eyes and freckled cheeks. "Wait a second, you're not Isabel..."  
"Oh no, behind you!"   
Turning around f/n noticed the titan had now recovered and was stalking towards her and the other scout, a very angry look gracing its hideous features."  
"Oh shit!" Gasped f/n, quickly drawing a fresh pair of blades and preparing to launch an attack.  
Suddenly a blur of green passed overhead and sped towards the titan's face, a pair of sharp silver blades finding their mark in its eyes seconds later.  
"Levi!" Yelled f/n, a huge relieved smile spreading across her face as the titan cried out in pain and staggered backwards, raising its hands to its eyes.  
"Tch, what the hell are you playing at?" He snarled. "Find your horse and get the hell out of here!"  
Unfortunately for f/n her jubilation was short lived, her smile instantly disappearing when the blinded titan staggered towards her comrade, wildly swinging its arms.  
"LEVI LOOK OUT!"  
The warning came too late, Levi looked behind him just in time to see a large muscular arm come sweeping towards him and connect with his body, sending him flying almost ten feet into the air before crashing into a tree trunk spine first and whipping his head back against it in the process with enough force to render him unconscious.  
"NO! LEVI!"   
The former thug gritted her teeth and growled like an enraged animal, her mind now fully clear and focused on one single goal: taking down this monster and saving her friend's life.  
"Distract the bastard!" She ordered, turning to glance at the terrified scout momentarily. "I'll take it out!"  
"Hey wait!"   
Launching her grapple lines f/n felt the familiar pull of the anchors embedding themselves into the titan's flesh, reeling herself in and releasing a burst of gas to quicken her journey.  
Narrowing her eyes against the onslaught of rain, she saw one of the titan's legs straight ahead.   
"Shit too low!" She cursed, but that didn't stop her from slicing through the back of the target's knee as she passed it and circled around its back, preparing for a second try and striking its nape.  
Before she could act, the scout whose life she had just saved screamed out in horror, causing a momentary lapse in concentration.  
"It's eyes! It's regenerated already!"  
That couldn't be right, it hadn't even been one minute since Levi blinded the beast. There was no way it had regenerated that quickly!  
Sure enough, the titan turned around and stared down at f/n through freshly healed bulbous blank orbs.  
Taking advantage of f/n's confusion, it reached out and wrapped its large hand around her body, pinning her arms to her side and picking her up.  
"Oh god!" Whimpered f/n, her lower lip trembling rapidly when her feet left the ground.  
Her body paralyzed in fear as the titan raised her to its face and opened its mouth, ready to devour her and end her life.  
"Levi, Farlan, Isabel...I'm sorry!"


	9. Chapter 9

"It's eyes! It's regenerated already!"  
Mike gritted his teeth, a low growl sounding in the pit of his throat as he rode towards the panic stricken cry.  
Finally he came upon the hunched over figure of a titan raising its hand to its face, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the paralyzed victim trapped in its fist.  
Without hesitation he jumped up and put his feet on the saddle, deploying his grapple lines and drawing a fresh pair of blades...

F/n let out a series of terrified whimpers, tears streaming down her cheeks when the large gaping mouth of the titan grew ever closer.  
This was it, she was going to die the same horrible death that Farlan and Isabel had suffered.  
"Levi help me, please!" She cried out, finally finding the strength to try and fight back, but to no avail.  
The titan's foul smelling breath washed over her and assaulted her nostrils, making her cough and gag when the top half of her body came level with its sharp teeth.  
Screwing her eyes shut for what was sure to be her last moments, f/n prepared herself for the inevitable...  
Seconds later the titan froze, its tight grip on her body slowly beginning to loosen and the ground suddenly rushing up to meet her.  
Another harsh scream left her lips as she fought to crawl further into the fist so she could lessen the impact of her fall, until a pair of strong arms pulled them loose and hauled her up into a firm muscular chest.  
"I've got you!" Grunted a familiar husky voice.  
Slowly opening her eyes, the former thug gasped in shock and saw the titan crash to the ground in a dead heap before looking up and finding herself in Mike's arms, dangling from a tree branch.  
A moment later he began the steady descent back to the ground, unwrapping his arm from f/n's waist.  
"Are you hurt?"  
"No, I...oh shit, Levi!"  
Before Mike could utter another word, f/n sprinted off yet again.  
"Her friend got thrown against a tree." Explained the other female scout, rushing after her.  
The tall squad leader nodded and looked up towards the sky.  
The rain was finally starting to ease off a little, so finding their way back to the formation would hopefully prove a little easier provided they didn't run into any titans.  
Calling his horse he quickly mounted it again and began to follow the scout.

"Levi!" Screamed f/n, grunting when she hit a particularly muddy patch of grass and fell flat on her face.  
Spitting out dirt she pushed herself up and rushed forward again, relieved to see that their horses were stood not too far away.  
"Levi, hey...can you hear me?"  
Rolling him onto his back, f/n carefully tilted his head and placed her ear against his face to check he was breathing.  
"Is he?" Asked the worried female scout, her brows furrowing in concern as she dropped to her knees on the opposite side of his body.  
"He's breathing." She replied shakily, sniffing and roughly wiping her tear filled e/c eyes. "Levi? Levi come on please, open your eyes!"  
"Put him on my horse."  
Heads snapping up, the two females were greeted by the sight of Mike dismounting his horse.  
"Is your horse anywhere near here?" He continued, squatting down and carefully picking Levi's unconscious form up bridal style before turning to the other scout.  
"No Sir, it was killed when the abnormal caught up to me."  
"Alright, take Levi's. We need to move, now!"  
Surprising even herself, f/n nodded and obediently helped the tall squad leader lift her friend onto his horse, watching closely as Mike carefully pulled him upright.  
Resting the shorter man's body against his back, Mike then pulled a length of rope from one of the saddle bags and carefully wrapped it around Levi's body, tying it to his at the waist to stop him from jerking around and falling from the horse.  
By the time f/n and the female scout had mounted their own steeds, the rain had finally stopped and the dark clouds started to disperse, much to their great relief.  
"Alright, follow me." Said Mike, kicking his horse and galloping off to the south.

The gate leading back to the safety safety of Wall Maria just a few short miles away was a welcome sight for the battle weary scouts.  
Dark clouds still scattered the sky, but the rain seemed to hold off.  
"Well?" Asked Commander Shadis, folding his arms and raising an expectant eyebrow while a member of his squad fed and watered his horse.  
"I lost one squad member during the ambush." Said Erwin. "It seems Levi has failed to return alive."  
"Hmph, that means his little girlfriend is going to be an even bigger thorn in my side than she already is once she finds out!" Snorted the commander.  
"Actually Sir, Squad Leader Mike and f/n have also failed to return."  
"What?"  
Erwin's bushy brows furrowed, he suspected foul play and since f/n wasn't particularly fond of her comrades, that put her squarely under the eye of suspicion.  
"I just spoke with Mike's squad, f/n disobeyed a direct order and took off to find Levi. Mike went after her and neither of them have been seen since."  
Shadis sighed and nodded, pursing his lips thoughtfully.  
"Have all the squads replenished their blades and fuel?"  
"Yes Sir."  
"Then saddle up, we're heading back to..."  
"What is it Sir?"  
Commander Shadis's amber eyes narrowed suspiciously, watching the steady stream of purple smoke that streaked across the sky.  
Judging by the distance they weren't too far away, a mile...possibly two?  
"Send out a rescue party, there's someone still alive out there!"

Mike loaded a purple flare cartridge into his gun and released the safety catch, holding it above his head he fired it off into the air.  
"We wait two minutes before heading off again."  
The female scout nodded and turned her attention to f/n, staring at her sympathetically upon noticing the worried look in her eyes when she glanced over at Levi.  
He was still unconscious and covered in mud, that would certainly annoy him when he did finally come round.  
"Are you okay?" She asked cautiously.  
F/n however ignored her and continued staring at Levi, hey eyes not once leaving his face.  
She felt so guilty that she'd not be able to prevent him from getting injured, but what really crushed her rebellious fighting spirit was the thought that she stood to lose him the way she lost Farlan and Isabel.  
'No, I can't think that way!' She growled internally, her e/c eyes narrowing slightly. 'He's strong, he'll survive...he has to."  
"Look sharp!"   
F/n's head jerked up as the sound of hooves splashing over the waterlogged grass approached, quickly followed by a loud whiny of several horses being pulled to a halt a short distance from them.  
"Mike, f/n...you're alive!" Squealed an excited ear piercing voice. "I knew you wouldn't abandon us just yet!"  
The tall squad leader snorted and grinned at Hanji, but otherwise didn't speak as called out to her comrades behind her.  
"Moblit, Dita, ride back and tell Commander Shadis we've found them."  
"Tell them to make space on one of the wagons." Said Mike, finally breaking his silence. "Levi is injured."  
"Understood!"  
Turning her horse around to face the direction she had just come from, she kicked its sides and galloped off back towards the formation.  
"Alright, move it." Said Mike, spurring his own horse into action, closely followed by f/n and the other female scout.  
The air was now starting to clear and he could almost smell scent of heavy stone of the protective walls that kept humanity safe from the titans, maybe they would make it home alive after all...

By the time the Survey Corps finally started to make their way through the Shiganshina district back to their headquarters, the afternoon sun was beating down hard from the west and starting to lengthen the shadows below.  
The mood of the civilian's was once again sour as they lined the streets to "welcome" the exhausted and demoralized soldiers home, although to f/n it felt like they really only came to sneer at their stupidity for daring to set foot into such dangerous territory.  
Sometimes she just wanted to scream and shout at them that she hadn't chosen this path willingly, that she didn't want to waste her life fighting a pointless battle where she could die at any moment. Although what good would it do her? All that would happen was she would end up losing her temper and assaulting someone, then the Military Police would get to have fun interrogating her and making her pay for her past crimes in the Underground City.  
Gritting her teeth as yet another barrage of verbal abuse reached her ears, she focused her attention on the heavy wagon she was riding beside.  
Levi's still unconscious body lay in the middle of it, covered by his cloak while a spare had been placed under his now bandaged head.  
From the quick once over the field medics had given him, they had deduced that he had been lucky to escape with no broken bones. However there was no way to assess if he was alright mentally until he finally woke up, which probably wasn't going to be anytime soon despite f/n's desperate pleading and begging.  
The heavy gate slammed shut behind them and made the former thug wince, yet it was the cruel biting words of the civilians that caused her the most pain.  
"Looks like it was a bad one." Muttered one gruff male when she passed by. "I would say the sudden storm didn't help either."  
"Yeah well, that's what you get for being a proud idiot and thinking you can take on the titans!" Snorted another with a dry laugh. "I say they deserve all they get!"  
"You bastards!" Growled f/n, her lower lip trembling as her fingers tightened around her horse's reins.  
"Hey, easy Sweetie."  
Looking up, she was met with a set of puppy brown eyes shielded from full view by a set of grey battle goggles.  
"I know it's hard, but ignore them."  
Deciding not to speak, f/n turned to look back in the direction she was facing.  
She didn't want or need sympathy or comfort from Hanji, nor anyone else.  
All she needed was for Levi to wake up and be alright...that was all that mattered to her right now.

Upon finally returning to their main headquarters, the scouts started to deal with the post expedition tasks.  
The injured were taken to the infirmary, the corpses that had been recovered were taken away for identification and cremation and the rest of them returned their horses to the stables before retreating inside the castle to shower and mourn the loss of their comrades.  
Having returned his own horse to the stable and got it settled in for the night, Mike closed the stall door and froze for a moment or two.  
His nostrils flared as the scent of wild flowers and fresh grass caught his attention. However as well as the usual lingering scent of black tea and soap, there was also the strong stench of blood and dirt.  
Frowning deeply he looked over a few meters to his right and noticed a certain female soldier stood outside one of the stalls, her head resting against her horses muzzle with her eyes screwed shut.  
He had a strong suspicion that in a few moments she would try and sneak away to the infirmary to visit her injured friend, but unfortunately that was going to have to wait.  
Steeling himself for the usual barrage of anger and hatred he was part and parcel of dealing with the rogue scout, Mike cautiously approached her.  
"What the hell do you want?" She growled lowly, keeping her eyes closed and barely twitching a muscle when she heard his slow footsteps halt near her.  
"Commander Shadis wants to see you in his office."  
"I don't care, leave me alone."  
Mike shook his head and folded his arms, he knew he should be harsh in his approach towards her, but somehow...he just couldn't bring himself to do it and actually mean it.  
"You could've been killed today, when I give you orders I expect you to follow them."  
"Wow that promotion really went to your head didn't it?"  
A bitter laugh broke forth from f/n's slightly parted lips, however she still refused to look at him.  
"I don't want to punish you, but I will if you don't start acting more like a soldier and less like a thug."  
That got her attention.  
F/n's head whipped around and her e/c eyes opened, if she'd known she could actually take him on and win she'd have thrown a punch at the tall squad leader.  
"Who's acting?" She scoffed, her lower lip trembling. "I am a thug!"  
"Not anymore you're not."  
"Why do you even care?"  
Her question caught Mike completely off guard, why did he care? He wasn't even sure he knew the answer himself.  
Yet somehow, even when she was laying into him and being disobedient...he still found her intriguing. Why?  
"Commander Shadis doesn't like to be kept waiting."  
"I'm going to see Levi."  
"You can't, the infirmary staff won't allow anyone in without the commander's permission."  
"Then I'll just have to make him grant it to me then won't I?" Snarled f/n, her e/c eyes locking with Mike's.  
"You said he wanted to see me, so let's get this over with."


	10. Chapter 10

The walk from the stables to Commander Shadis's office was one of awkward silence.  
F/n obediently followed Mike through the torch lit stone corridors, casting a distasteful glare at anyone who dared to glance in her direction.  
She may have been exhausted and in need of rest after the expedition, but that could wait until she had seen Levi.  
Failing to concentrate on where she was going thanks to her wandering mind, she was forced to halt when she crashed into the broad back of the tall squad leader who had now stopped outside an all too familiar large wooden door.  
Mike barely flinched when f/n walked into him, turning back to look at her a moment later and raising an eyebrow when she stared up at him and folded her arms.  
Without saying a word he knocked on the door and waited for a response.  
"Enter." Called the gruff voice from the other side, muffled by the thick wood.  
Opening it, he gestured for the angry young woman to enter first, closing the door behind him as he followed.

Commander Shadis turned his attention away from the tall bushy browed squad leader he was currently talking to before Mike's arrival, his amber eyes narrowing slightly when he noticed f/n accompanying him.  
"Squad Leader Zacharius." He greeted. "I see you managed to find our little runaway."  
F/n's upper lip curled into a sneer, her arms remaining firmly folded across her chest as she stopped a few feet away from the desk.  
Her refusal to show the proper respect for her superiors by saluting was duly noted by all three men, however they were that used to it that it no longer bothered them. No amount of punishment was going to force her to use appropriate manners and to be honest, Shadis had just written her off as once a thug, always a thug...that was until now.  
"I'm getting really pissed off of seeing your ass in my office constantly l/n." Remarked Shadis, leaning forward in his seat and resting his elbows on the desk. Interlocking his fingers he stared at her over the top of them. "You have well and truly cemented yourself to the top of my shit list permanently, congratulations!"  
"So why do you insist on dragging me here?" She scoffed. "Try leaving me the fuck alone!"  
Erwin shook his head and narrowed his icy blue eyes, biting his tongue to stop himself interrupting the commander.  
"What you did today was reckless and irresponsible, you could've endangered the entire regiment."  
'Hardly!' She snorted internally, she'd hardly have called two titans that were a considerable distance away putting everyone in jeopardy.  
"Well maybe if you hadn't been stupid enough to separate me from Levi, I might have been a little bit more compliant." She replied cockily, rolling her eyes and tutting.   
She didn't even bother to try hide her boredom at expecting yet another annoying lecture about how she was going to end up as titan food if she didn't pull her head out of her ass and start trying to get along with her comrades.  
Mike shook his head and placed his hands behind his back.  
There really wasn't any reasoning with her, no matter how many times Commander Shadis tried to discipline her, punish her and verbally beat her down, she always stood her ground. It was an admirable quality really and he was impressed by her resolve, however he knew that the only reason for this was because he was trying to push all the wrong buttons.   
"Are you going to shut that big mouth of yours and open your ears for once?" Questioned Shadis. "I'm actually trying to pay you a compliment believe it or not if you'd stop being such a petulant brat!"  
F/n furrowed her brows, what the hell was he talking about? As far as she was concerned she'd done nothing that warranted any form of nicety from anyone in the regiment...unless he meant...  
"Squad Leader Zacharius told me how you saved one of the new recruits from certain death when you decided to go MIA."  
F/n's eyes widened, her jaw dropping open in disbelief as her head snapped around to face Mike for a brief moment.  
Why the hell had he done that?  
"I'm sure they're grateful and I believe it may actually be a turning point for you if you rein in that damned attitude of yours." He continued, relishing the fact that her indifferent mask had finally slipped to show the vulnerable young woman beneath it. "So, I have decided...fortunately for you, to be lenient just this once and not punish you for your insubordination."  
"If you want to thank me you can let me see Levi." She demanded, regaining her composure.  
"Not tonight."  
"Why the fuck not?"   
"I've already been to check on him." Erwin spoke up, stepping forward. "He's still unconscious and the medics won't allow anyone to see him, they're doing their best to bring him round and the last thing they need is you getting in the way."  
"He's my friend you bastard!"   
"That may well be." Said Shadis, lowering his hands and resting them on the desk. "However I am your commander and I'm ordering you to go get showered and rest. You can see him in the morning when you don't wreak of blood and shit, now unless you want me to punish you for going MIA on the expedition..."  
F/n snorted and turned around to leave, reaching for the door handle when a voice from behind made her stop.  
"Oh and don't even think about trying to sneak into the infirmary during the night." Warned the commander. "The medics will inform me and I assure you that your friend's condition will be the least of your worries by the time I'm finished with you."  
"Tch, bastard!" She muttered under her breath, opening the door and disappearing through it but making no attempt to close it behind her.  
Commander Shadis shook his head and furrowed his brows, looking up to Mike who remained motionless in the corner of the office.  
"You're dismissed for the evening Squad Leader, the post expedition briefing will take place in here tomorrow morning."  
Mike nodded and saluted before leaving the office, closing the door behind him.

F/n stormed off down the corridor, her e/c eyes narrowed to slits as she rounded the corner and let out a frustrated scream, punching the door on her right.  
"That bastard can punish me all he wants!" She growled under her breath, her entire body shaking from rage. "I'll see Levi before tomorrow morning, that I can promise!"  
Suddenly she tensed up when the sound of light footsteps reached her ears.  
Turning around to look back in the direction she had just come from, her brows furrowed when a familiar auburn haired scout with bright blue eyes and freckles dusting her cheeks.  
"Hey, it's f/n isn't it?" She questioned with a shy smile, cautiously approaching the former thug.   
"What of it?" Grunted f/n, raising an eyebrow at her.  
"I don't know if you remember me but, my name is Talia...you saved my life earlier today." Continued the scout. "I just wanted to say thank you, you were really brave."  
"Forget about it." Shrugged f/n, averting her gaze and walking away.  
"Hey wait! Please don't leave!"  
"Look you wanted to thank me and now you have, so do one!"   
"I just want to ask you something." Said Talia, struggling to keep up with her long strides. "When you found me, you called me Isabel...why?"  
F/n stopped dead in her tracks, her e/c eyes widening at the name. Had she really done that? She didn't remember anything mentioning her to anyone while on the expedition.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Tentatively reaching out, Talia placed a hand on the other female's shoulder. "Was she someone you lost?"  
A single nod was all she received in reply, simply adding to her guilt at questioning her savior.  
"I um...I'll leave you to it." She muttered, giving f/n's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before letting go. "Thank you though for what you did."  
"You're welcome."   
Talia was about to leave when the sound of heavy footsteps echoing across the flagstone floor caught her ears and made her freeze, a faint gasp escaping her lips as a tall blonde male with steel blue eyes and dark stubble around his mouth came into view.  
"Squad Leader Zacharius!"  
Mike looked down at her for a moment before turning his attention to f/n, his brows furrowing when he noticed her tense posture.  
He could smell the anger radiating from her at being denied access to the infirmary to see Levi without even drawing a breath, however there was something else there too...  
Curling his upper lip slightly he turned to look at Mia again.  
"Go to f/n's dormitory." He said lowly. "Fetch a clean uniform to my office."  
"Um...yes Sir!" Nodded the young female, saluting before hurrying away.  
Once she had left, f/n slowly raised her head and turned to look at Mike, glaring at him expectantly.  
"The other scouts have probably used all the hot water by now." He mused, his gaze locking with hers. "Fortunately the officer's have private showers in their quarters."   
F/n frowned but remained stood where she was, watching him closely.   
What exactly was he trying to accomplish here? Was he going to try and take advantage of her since she no longer had Levi to watch her back?  
"I have no intention of trying to harm you." He said lowly, almost as if he had read her mind.  
The offer of a hot shower certainly appealed to f/n, anything was better than walking around a second longer smelling like a battlefield. The scent was now starting to make her feel ill and if she was being completely honest, it would be nice to not have to share what little hot water there may be with several other females in the communal bathroom.  
"Fine." She replied bluntly, earning her a single nod from the tall squad leader he walked away.

Upon reaching his office, Mike unlocked the door and made his way over to another door near his desk that led to his sleeping quarters and private bathroom.  
F/n reluctantly followed and cast a quick glance at her surroundings.  
There was a large wardrobe against one wall near the lead lined window, a comfortable looking king size bed with soft pillows and a fleece blanket covering it, while over in the corner were a simple wooden chair and a wicker basket which she assumed was for dirty laundry.  
Opening the wardrobe door, Mike started rummaging around.  
"Take as long as you need." He said softly, handing over two fluffy towels and nodding towards the bathroom door before leaving the bedroom and heading back into his office.  
Hugging the towels to her chest, f/n frowned and cocked her head to one side, staring at the door Mike had just left through.  
Once again she found herself wondering just what the hell he was trying to accomplish by being so nice to her, what was his damned motive?  
The other scouts she could read like an open book, they made no effort to hide their disgust at a lowly underground thug being allowed to join their ranks.   
However Mike was different.  
He had never once said anything about her former life, good or bad. He mainly just seemed to stare at her with an uncomfortable intensity that got right under her skin and made alarm bells ring so loud in her mind that if they were real, she would probably have gone deaf by now.  
Curling her lip and entering the bathroom, she placed the towels down on the sink and moved to turn the shower on, placing her hand under it after a few moments to test the water temperature.  
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, the pressure was a lot higher than that of the communal bathrooms she and the other scouts used, the water was a lot warmer too.  
Shrugging off her thoughts, she started to get undressed. Deciding to interrogate Mike about his intentions towards her later, she opted for now she was to take the opportunity to just enjoy a relaxing hot shower.

Mike sat down at his desk and leaned back in his seat, folding his arms and closing his eyes.   
He sighed and silently listened to the sound of running water coming from the private en suite bathroom as he let his head fall over the back of the chair, the soft leather digging into his nape in the process.  
In a way he felt a tad guilty for not trying to persuade Commander Shadis to let f/n see Levi, however he could also understand the other man's point of view.  
The medics were always rushed off their feet after an expedition, most soldiers learned basic battlefield first aid during their cadet years which did alleviate the pressure somewhat when they returned to base.  
However that only went as far as bandaging cuts and lacerations, bracing broken bones so they could be properly set when they were safely back behind the walls and popping dislocated joints back into place before applying a sling. This meant that anyone who lacked the knowledge of how to remove shrapnel without rupturing an artery, fix broken bones or perform complex amputations was only going to hinder them in their work.  
Eventually a knock on the office door interrupted his thoughts.  
"Squad Leader Zacharius, I've brought a spare uniform for f/n." Called a female voice when he failed to answer.  
"Enter." He finally responded, opening his eyes and looking towards the door.  
"Um, where shall I leave this Sir?" Questioned Talia, entering the office.  
"In my room, let f/n know."  
"Yes Sir."  
Mike watched her through narrowed eyes before turning back to face the main door and scratching the dark stubble on his chin, wondering if by trying to look after f/n in Levi's absence, he was biting off more than he could chew.

"F/n, it's Talia." Called a voice through the bathroom door, barely audible to her ears above the noise of the shower. "I've brought you a fresh uniform, it's on the bed for you."  
The former thug frowned and blinked rapidly, as she finished washing soap from her h/l h/c hair and rinsed herself down before turning the shower off.   
She was almost certain she had just heard someone trying to get her attention.   
Shrugging it off she exited the shower and picked up the larger of the two towels from the sink, wrapping it around her body before proceeding to dry her hair with the other one and making her way into the bedroom to see if her hunch was right.  
Upon entering, she noticed a fresh uniform in a neat pile on the center of the bed.   
"Huh, looks like there was someone trying to talk to me."  
However she had more important things on her mind.  
Deciding her interrogation of Mike and finding out what he was trying to achieve by being nice to her was no longer her top priority, sneaking into the infirmary to check on Levi was.  
She couldn't just abandon him to the medics, not after he risked his life in the underground time and again to keep her safe and especially not after he risked being punished by Commander Shadis for sneaking food out to her and staying with her for the night when she were supposed to be deprived of food and a proper bed for twenty four hours.  
Hastily getting dressed and throwing the other towel into the wicker basket, f/n left the bedroom and glanced over at Mike, who was sat at his desk writing up his post expedition report.  
"Thanks for the shower." She said bluntly, making her way over to the door.   
Unfortunately for f/n, Mike was quick off the mark and before she could register what was happening, he had beaten her to the exit and was currently looming over her. Pressing one large hand to the hard wood, he leaned against it to prevent her from leaving and stared down at her.  
"Move." She ordered, her e/c eyes narrowing in anger, which just mounted when Mike continued to simply watch her without saying a word.  
"Damnit you tall ass freak, let me out!"   
"You're planning to try and sneak into the infirmary." He finally stated, his expression remaining as stoic as ever.  
"So what if I am? Get the fuck out of my way before I kick your none existent balls so hard you spit them out next time you talk!"   
Mike snorted in amusement, a cocky grin momentarily playing on his handsome features.   
Probably not the smartest move, but he couldn't help being amused that she was willing to try her luck against him.  
"Do you want the commander to punish you again? You're in his good books for once, make the most of it."  
"I don't give a shit about the commander, I'm going to see Levi!"  
"You might want to dry your hair properly first." He remarked, nodding to the forming wet patch on her jacket where her still drenched locks were currently hanging loose. "The quickest way to the infirmary is across the courtyard and I'd rather not have a member of my squad out of action with a cold."  
"I'll be fine." She retorted, attempting once more to open the door and failing. "Oh for fucks sake!"  
Mike watched with a raised eyebrow as f/n stormed off back towards the bedroom and into the bathroom, emerging a few seconds later with the other towel he had given her to use and roughly rubbing it over her head for a moment before throwing it at him.  
"Done, now let me leave."  
Finally deciding he'd had enough, the tall squad leader approached her and firmly grabbed her arm, leading her back to the desk and forcing her to practically sit on it.  
F/n opened her mouth to protest once the initial shock of him daring to touch her had worn off, but before she could berate him, he placed the towel over her head and started to gently rub her wet hair.  
At first she tensed up from the sudden loss of vision and unwanted contact, but after a few moments of his gentle movements, she started to relax and lowered her head as her vulnerable side once again started to show itself.  
"Why are you being so nice?" She muttered, closing her eyes. "What the hell do you want from me?"  
"To prove I'm not your enemy."   
"Then let me go see Levi." Came the choked out reply, making Mike's eyes widen slightly. "He...he's all I have, I...I can't lose him."  
Mike ceased all movement for a moment, feeling her tremble slightly under his touch.   
"He'll be alright." He said softly, resuming his task.  
"You don't know that!" Snapped f/n, gripping the edge of the desk hard enough to send her knuckles white. "He's the only thing keeping me going, if I don't get to say goodbye..."  
Slowly removing the towel from her head, Mike gently lowered his hand and cupped her chin, lifting her head so he could look into her reddened tear filled eyes.  
His own steel blue orbs widened considerably at seeing her in such a state, the bitchy take no prisoners thug he was so used to seeing was now gone, replaced by a scared girl.  
"I know you don't trust me, but right now you need someone to offload to and I'm a good listener." He muttered lowly, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "Let me in."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: WARNING!  
The following chapter contains references to death, rape and prostitution.  
Read at your own risk!  
  
  
  
  
"I know you don't trust me, but right now you need someone to offload to and I'm a good listener...Let me in."   
F/n swallowed hard and kept her gaze fixed on his, her lower lip trembling at his words.   
Not once since she joined the regiment had anyone wanted to know about her past, not on a personal level anyway.  
Hanji had only been interested in how she and her friends learned to use the ODM Gear with such skill, although she had hinted a couple of days before the expedition that she figured before being forced into the service of the military that life hadn't been easy. Still, no one else had ever bothered to try and approach her with a view of getting to know her better...not that she particularly cared.  
Exhaling deeply, f/n pulled away from Mike's soft grip and lowered her head, silently fixing her e/c eyes on the floor.   
Pursing his lips thoughtfully, the tall blonde moved to the other side of the desk and opened one of the drawers nestled under it, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.  
He'd originally been planning a post expedition drink with Erwin, but after what had happened in Commander Shadis's office, he decided to cancel.   
When asked to explain his reasons behind it, he simply stated his intentions to try and get through to the rogue scout.   
Erwin of course had dismissed this as a stupid idea and said it would be easier to slay a titan without ODM Gear, but this hadn't deterred the newly promoted squad leader and he was determined that one way or another, he was finally going to break down the barrier that f/n put up between herself and the rest of the regiment.  
Pouring a small amount of the brown liquid into each glass, Mike replaced the lid on the bottle and returned to f/n's side of the desk, holding one out to her.  
The former thug looked up and frowned at the beverage being offered to her before raising an eyebrow at Mike and once more silently questioning his intentions.  
"It'll help take the edge off." He answered evenly. "Don't worry it's not drugged."  
After a moment's hesitation, f/n took the glass from him and sniffed its contents.   
She'd never had whiskey before, so the strong aroma was new to her.   
Carefully raising the glass to her lips she took a cautious sip, wincing at the taste and how it burned her throat as she swallowed.  
"Fuck!" She coughed, eyeing up the small mouthful that was still sloshing around the glass. "You surface dwellers drink some disgusting shit!"  
A cocky grin once again adorned Mike's handsome features as he shrugged and swallowed his own drink down in one large gulp, raising an eyebrow and daring her to do the same.  
"Tch!"   
Screwing her eyes shut, f/n raised the glass to her lips again and held her breath as she downed the remaining liquid. Shaking her head and wincing before putting the glass down on the table and shuddering at the foul aftertaste, however she still refused to look at Mike when he sat next to her on the desk.  
"What happened to you to make you the way you are?" He inquired, folding his arms and patiently waiting for an answer.  
Sighing deeply f/n gritted her teeth, he wasn't going to let this go was he? Although there was no denying that he was right, she did need someone to offload to, but the burning questioned remained firmly embedded in her mind...could she actually trust this man?  
Part of her wanted to believe that she could, he'd kept his word about not telling the commander that Levi had sneaked food out to her and spent the night in the storage shed with her...so what reason did she have to doubt him now?  
"I was born in the Underground City." She began, her voice barely above a mumble. "My father became ill and died when I was a baby and my mother went the same way when I was eight...I had no one else so I had to learn to fend for myself, then a year later I met a man named Marcus..."  
  
 _"There she goes!"_  
 _"Stop her! Don't let the little bitch get away!"_  
 _F/n ran for her life, dodging barrels and crates as she turned into a small alleyway and dared to risk a glance behind her._  
 _Three burly merchants gave chase, each of them carrying a makeshift weapon of sorts with which they planned to teach her a lesson about stealing._  
 _All she had taken was a small loaf of bread, was that such a bad thing?_  
 _It had just been sat on the crate unattended after all, the men unloading the cart had even said it was damaged goods since it was slightly out of shape and thus couldn't be sold. She thought she was doing them a favour by relieving them of it, but she was wrong._  
 _Panting heavily, she pushed herself to continue running._  
 _Climbing up onto a stack of crates leading to the next level of the Underground City, her foot slipped on a loose board and she stumbled, scraping her knee._  
 _"Hurry up, I've found her!"_  
 _"Oh no!" She squeaked, quickly scrambling to her feet and somehow managing to climb up onto the next footpath before sprinting off again._  
 _Finally, salvation came in the form of a small run down building with a hole just large enough for the painfully thin child to squeeze through moments before the men pursuing her were able to reach the footpath._  
 _"Damnit where did the runt go?" Asked one angry voice._  
 _"She can't have gotten far, no doubt we'll find her passed out somewhere close. Then we can teach her a lesson!"_  
 _F/n swallowed hard and held her breath, biting down on her lip with enough pressure to draw blood in an attempt to stop herself from crying out in terror._  
  
 _The past year of her life had been hell, her mother had fell ill and died, leaving her with nothing but a small dwelling with her rotting corpse for company._  
 _It was no way for a child to live and eventually, the stench from the decomposing body had forced her to gather up as much food and clothing as she could before fleeing and taking refuge in whatever abandoned building she could find. However she never stayed in one place too long, much safer to keep moving since the merchants didn't take too kindly to homeless children sifting through their rubbish looking for scraps of food or rags to dress themselves in._  
 _Finally the men left, their heavy footsteps growing fainter and finally disappearing, leaving f/n sat huddled up and shivering in the semi darkness of the abandoned house she had crawled into._  
 _Sniffing back tears she slowly started to relax and reached into the tatty leather pouch attached to her bony hip, pulling out the battered loaf of bread she had taken and staring at it intensely._  
 _It took all of her willpower to devour it in one go, but as she had learned over the past twelve months, it was always best to try and eat slowly to preserve it as long as possible._  
 _Forcing herself not to take too big a bite, f/n shakily raised the bread to her dry lips and whimpered when a painful growl erupted from her stomach. She'd not eaten in nearly two days and the temptation to scoff it all down in one go was very real. However she refused to give in, opting to take three small bites before depositing it back into her pouch and saving it for later._  
 _Her next task was to find some water, preferably clean and not from a puddle in the middle of the street._  
 _Pushing herself upright she brushed down her ragged clothing she risked a peek outside to make sure the merchants weren't still hanging around the area on the off chance that they may still catch her, which fortunately for her, they weren't._  
 _Crawling out of her hiding place she started to make her way over to the other side of the city where she knew a hole in the ceiling leading to the outside world would most likely have a source of semi-fresh water for her to drink._  
  
 _After a calm yet unnerving journey, broken up only by other citizen's of the Underground City looking down their noses in disgust and muttering about her being "just another filthy orphan" f/n finally reached her destination._  
 _The hole in the earth was large and the green grass could be seen growing over the edges, while the bright sunlight shone down and illuminated everything below in a warm white light._  
 _Squinting against it, f/n raised a hand to her face and looked up into the blue cloudless sky. What must it be like to live up there? To never have to worry about where her next meal would come from or merchants chasing her down simply because they viewed her as vermin..._  
 _"Magnificent isn't it?"_  
 _The frightened girl was instantly snapped out of her daydream by a deep male voice from behind her, making her yelp in fear and spin around to face it._  
 _"It's alright my dear." Smiled a tall thin man with seemingly kind green eyes and a head of closely cropped blonde hair. "You look lost, where are your parents?"_  
 _"D-dead Sir." She muttered feebly, gripping her stomach when it emitted another painful growl._  
 _"You poor child..." He tutted moving closer to her and squatting down to her level, closely eyeing up her tattered and torn clothes. "Do you have no other family?"_  
 _F/n shook her head, tears welling in her e/c eyes._  
 _"Hmm, why don't you come with me? I have a large house, plenty of food and you would be safe."_  
 _F/n's jaw dropped open in disbelief, this couldn't be real. No one was ever kind to her or even looked at her with any sort of view to helping her plight to survive._  
 _"Well what do you say?" Asked the man, offering a hand and flashing her another sincere smile._  
 _The young girl smiled and eagerly nodded, taking his hand without hesitation._  
 _"Thank you Sir."_  
 _"What's your name child?"_  
 _"F/n Sir."_  
 _The man nodded and stood up straight, leading her away._  
 _"Well f/n, you can call me Marcus."_  
  
"He promised me he would look after me, that I would have food in my stomach and a roof over my head...but he lied. He was just like every other person in the Underground City, only looking out for his own interests."  
Mike narrowed his eyes suspiciously when f/n clenched her fists, something bad was coming up in her story and he was starting to get an uncomfortable feeling that he knew exactly what it was, he just hoped and prayed that he was wrong...  
"I was too young to understand back then exactly what sort of business he was running." Continued f/n. "All I knew was that I was well looked after. I was able to eat hot food, have regular baths each day and I even managed to make myself useful as the house keeper's assistant. You know, changing bedding, doing laundry, taking food and drink to the women in their rooms..."  
Mike closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, his worst fears confirmed by those few words alone. It made his stomach lurch to think of any woman, let alone a nine year old girl being in such a place.  
"Everything was fine until I turned thirteen, that was when he said I needed to start earning my keep..." Hesitating slightly she bit her lip and clenched her fists even tighter, digging her nails into the skin of her palms.   
  
 _"F/n, come here my dear."_  
 _F/n put down the empty tray she was carrying and walked over to the kitchen door where Marcus was stood watching her, stopping in front of him and silently waiting._  
 _"How old are you now f/n? Thirteen?"_  
 _"As of three days ago." She smiled, feeling quite proud of the fact she was now a teenager.  
Over the past four years since living with Marcus and his ladies, f/n had grown slightly taller, put on some weight and was now starting to look a lot healthier. She was also a lot happier in herself and always willing to help out when required, unfortunately however, this helpful disposition was about to prove to be her downfall..._  
 _"Yes, you're turning into quite the beautiful young lady aren't you?" Replied Marcus, gently brushing a lock of stray h/l h/c hair back behind her ear. "However I need you to start doing some proper work now, as much as I love having you here...it's becoming a bit of an inconvenience."_  
 _"I'm sorry, I'll look for a job and give you my wages."_  
 _"No, don't apologize and I actually have a job here for you." He smiled. "A friend of mine has requested you to...entertain him."_  
 _The confused girl blinked and cocked her head to one side, what did that even mean?_  
 _"What would I have to do?"_  
 _Marcus smiled and gently led her from the kitchen, taking her upstairs._  
 _"I'd like you to have a quick bath and then put on that dress I brought you for your birthday, after that come find me in my office and we will discuss what's going to happen."_  
 _"Okay."_  
 _"Good girl, now off you go."_  
 _However what f/n failed to see as she happily returned to her room to prepare for her meeting with Marcus's friend, was the evil grin that was now spreading across the face of the man she had come to love and trust as if he was her own father..._  
  
Standing up from the desk, Mike quickly walked to the other side and retrieved the bottle of whiskey, pouring himself another glass and downing it in one go.  
Rage boiled up inside him as he harshly placed the glass down on the wooden surface of the desk and sucked in air through his teeth, however this certainly explained why f/n acted the way she did.   
The reason she blew up at Hanji when she commented that her life in that Underground hell hole wasn't easy, the way her temper exploded when the scout had taunted her during training and the catalyst for her deep lack of trust towards the rest of the regiment...suddenly it all made sense.  
"I...I thought he cared about me." Sobbed f/n, her breathing becoming ragged. "He told me he would keep me safe...that he wouldn't let anyone hurt me...but he lied...I trusted him and he fucking lied!"  
Narrowing his steel blue eyes, Mike walked back around the other side of the desk and stood in front of her.   
Without hesitation he wrapped his muscular arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a comforting embrace, burying his nose into her freshly washed hair and inhaling deeply when he felt her body shaking uncontrollably. One large hand gently rubbed her back while the other held her head against his chest as she raised her hands and grabbed his jacket, creasing the material in her fists and holding onto it like her life depended on it while hesitantly continuing her story...  
  
 _Marcus's friend smirked and pulled his clothes back on, leaving f/n curled up in a ball on the bed sobbing quietly and desperately trying to cover her naked body.  
"Not bad for a first timer." He chuckled, patting Marcus on the shoulder as he exited the room. "I'll be asking for her again."  
Marcus nodded and waved his friend away before approaching the luxurious bed and sitting down on it, pulling the silk sheets away and staring down at the terrified teenager.  
"Well done f/n." He said softly, stroking her now matted hair. "I'm very proud of you, I'll send someone to help you clean up and then you can have something to eat."_  
 _Placing a gentle kiss on her temple, he stood up and left the room, calling for another woman named Athena to come and assist her._  
 _Moments later, a short woman with long brown hair and piercing brown eyes strode into the room and stopped by the bed, glaring down at her with an air of disapproval._  
 _"Hmph, dry your eyes girl." She snorted, pulling the sheets off to expose her completely. "The first time is always the worst, but the pain isn't as intense the second time round. Plus you'll soon get used to the rougher clients."_  
 _"I...I have to do that again?" Stuttered f/n, choking on her own breath._  
 _"Of course you will." Scoffed Athena, roughly taking hold of her arm, pulling her upright and dragging her from the bed towards another door at the far side of the room. "You're a working girl now f/n, you need to start earning your keep."_  
 _"I don't want to do it again!" She protested as the other woman pushed her through the door and into a small bathroom._  
 _"Well that's too bad."_  
 _F/n's eyes widened in horror while watching Athena proceed to fill the bath, was this what her life was going to be like from now on? Entertaining men and being treated like a piece of meat?  
Maybe she would've been better off if the merchants had caught her that day, at least if she were dead she'd never have to go through this ordeal again..._  
  
"How many times?" Asked Mike, mentally kicking himself afterwards when he felt f/n's body go rigid in his arms.  
"That was the only time." She muttered, gently pushing him away and sitting up straight. Raising her head and sniffing she did her best to try and regain her composure, determined to push the disgusting memory back into the cage she had kept it locked in for the past seven years. "I managed to escape when everyone else was asleep, I climbed out of my bedroom window, ran for my life and never looked back."  
"Did he try looking for you?"  
"Most likely." She shrugged, turning to glance back at the bottle of whiskey. "Thankfully I never saw him or anyone else from that place again after I ran away, but then again I did flee to the other side of the city."  
Catching her eyeing up the bottle, Mike got the hint and picked it up, pouring them both another glass and handing one to f/n.  
"Thanks." She muttered, flashing him a small smile before exhaling deeply and raising the glass to her lips. Downing the contents in one gulp she coughed and shook her head at the burning sensation it caused when she swallowed.   
"I take it Levi knows what happened to you?"  
"Yeah, he knows." Nodded f/n, a mirthless short laugh escaping her lips. "He wanted to go looking for Marcus, thankfully I talked him out of it. There was no way I wanted to go back to that place."  
"So when did you meet Levi and the others?"  
"Just before I turned sixteen."  
  
 _It had been nearly three years since f/n escaped from Marcus and things had gone back to being pretty much the same as when her mother passed away.  
Just like before, she was reduced to searching in piles of rubbish for food, resorting to stealing when the merchant's backs were turned and taking refuge in abandoned buildings when the need to sleep arose.  
Although this soon changed when she found a recently vacated building near the outskirts of the most southern point of the city and decided to claim it as her own, luckily it was furnished with a simple wooden bed, a chest of drawers and even had a working kitchen, bathroom and a small living room containing a table and rather comfy armchair.  
While her clothes might not have been completely reduced to filthy torn rags, they did hang from her once again painfully thin body. The weight she had gained from eating well while staying with Marcus had soon disappeared thanks to being denied proper meals and nutrition, but in her opinion it was better than being used and abused for the amusement of his friends. She would choose to be starve any day over the life he wanted to subject her to._  
 _While she may have appeared physically weak, her resolve and will to survive had grown stronger and she had now even taken to carrying a knife with which to defend herself should she run into trouble. She wasn't particularly good with it but she knew how to use it effectively enough to put off any would be attacker that dared to approach her, which for the time being was good enough as far as she was concerned.  
  
So far it had been a slow day and pickings had been slim on both money and food.  
_ _News had recently spread that the residents of the Underground City could now buy themselves citizenship on the surface, but it was a hefty price and even some of the richest merchants couldn't afford it.  
However, f/n was determined to make it happen. If it took her ten years or even twenty, she would find a way to buy her way onto the surface and live the life that many people down here could only dream of.  
Looking down the the small leather pouch attached to her hip, f/n decided that a little pick pocketing spree was in order that day. _  
 _The merchant's had been unloading carts of fresh food since she awoke and made her way towards the city's market, so there was a good chance she may score some vegetables and perhaps even some meat with which to make decent meal that day._  
 _Clicking her tongue thoughtfully she pulled her cloak further around her shoulders and checked the back of her belt, making sure her knife was still securely tucked into it and within easy reach should she run into trouble._  
 _Satisfied that it was, she started to look around for her first target of the day._  
 _Spotting a young merchant who had foolishly left his coin pouch on a crate unattended while he tried to flirt with a customer, f/n grinned and surveyed the area._  
 _There wasn't much of a crowd starting to form yet so she would need to be careful if she wanted to avoid catching the attention of the Military Police, she'd already had several run ins with them and it would only take one tiny slip up for them to finally catch her and throw her in a cell._  
 _Slowly creeping towards the crate where the unsuspecting merchant had discarded his pouch, f/n quickly ducked behind a low wall and cautiously peeked over the top, relieved to see that her target was still occupied with his current task._  
 _"Heh, perfect!" Muttered f/n, nervously biting her lip and ever so slowly raising her right hand to reach up over the wall and towards the crate to grab the coin pouch._  
 _It was less than a hair's breath away when suddenly the sound of ODM Gear followed by a loud crash and splintering wood caught the attention of everyone in the vicinity._  
 _"Hey get back here you damned thieves!" Shouted the merchant, pushing past the woman he was trying to flirt with and chasing after three civilians who appeared to be using the gear._  
 _"Whoa! No way!" Gasped f/n, jumping up from his hiding place and watching with awe._  
 _She'd heard stories of a pair of thugs who had stolen some ODM Gear from the Military Police and taught themselves to use it a couple of years ago, but to actually see them for herself was a great honor. However she was confused as to why they were now a trio instead of a duo._  
 _"Someone call the Military Police!"_  
 _Shaking her head and bringing herself back to reality, the teenager hastily grabbed the coin purse and ducked back down behind the crate when the aforementioned soldiers came running towards her location._  
 _Thankfully they rushed straight past her and deployed their gear, chasing the other thugs and giving f/n a perfect opportunity to do some serious looting while everyone else was distracted._  
 _A small smile graced her features as she rummaged through the various crates, loading herself up with as much food as she could carry. She would eat well tonight and if she used her ill gotten gains sparingly, maybe even have some left overs for the next day.  
  
Making her way back to her dwelling, f/n got a bit of a surprise when she noticed the three ODM Gear using thugs crouched down in the alleyway behind it._  
 _"So what did we get?" Asked an excitable red headed female who couldn't have been much older than f/n._  
 _"Some bread, apples and a few packets of medicine." Replied a tall blonde male._  
 _"Tch, so no cash then?" Snorted a short bored raven haired male, casually pulling out a white cloth and cleaning a rather sharp looking blade._  
 _"No, but at least we won't go hungry tonight!"_  
 _"That's not the point Isabel!"_  
 _"I know, but isn't it better that we didn't come away empty handed Bro?"_  
 _"Oi you two, pipe down. I can see someone lurking round the corner!"_  
 _"Shit!" Whispered f/n, pushing herself further back into the shadows and reaching for her blade, looking for somewhere safe to stash her loot in case things got hairy._  
 _"Who goes there?" Called a voice, the sound of footsteps echoing off the concrete ground steadily coming closer._  
 _"I'll handle this."_  
 _"Be careful Levi!"_  
 _Furrowing her brows and gritting her teeth, f/n braced against the stone wall behind her and prepared to jump the first person that came around the corner._  
 _A second later the short raven haired male came into view and the teenager took her chance, leaping out of her hiding spot she attempted to pin him to the wall and put her blade to his throat._  
 _Unfortunately for f/n she was too slow and inexperienced at knife combat and the male easily reversed her move, instead it was her who ended up pinned to the side of the dwelling instead with his body pressing against her from behind._  
 _Panic instantly overtook her and she started squirming as horrible memories of what had happened in the brothel three years ago forced themselves to the front of her mind._  
 _"Let me go!" She screamed, tears forming in her eyes as she screwed them shut. "I'll do anything, just don't...don't..."_  
 _"How long have you been following us?" Growled the short male, pressing himself harder into her and speaking directly into her ear._  
 _"Just don't, please..."_  
 _"Um Levi...I think she's under the impression you're going to try and rape her." Said the other male, an underlying tone of shock resonating in his voice._  
 _"Tch, I have no intention of committing such a disgusting act!"_  
 _Trembling uncontrollably, f/n tried her best to regain her composure._  
 _"I didn't follow you, I just happen to live here. I saw you in the market place but I had no idea you were heading this way, please...I just want to get into my home."_  
 _Looking back at his comrades, Levi raised a questioning eyebrow._  
 _"I say let her go Bro." Said Isabel softly. "Look at her, she's clearly not in any fit state to attack anyone."_  
 _"Yeah I agree." Nodded Farlan, furrowing his brows as his icy blue eyes scanned their hostage._  
 _Clicking his tongue thoughtfully, Levi released his grip on f/n and stepped back, eyeing her closely as she slipped her blade back into her belt and slowly turned to face them._  
 _"Sorry I tried to attack you, but you were hanging around near my home and I got a little jumpy." Muttered f/n, pulling her cloak further around her body and averting her gaze._  
 _"What's your name?" Asked Isabel, stepping forward with a smile. "I'm Isabel, this is my bro Levi and he's Farlan."_  
 _"I'm f/n...so do you guys hang around the market often looking for easy targets? Only I feel I owe you a thank you for making today's pickings a little better than I was hoping for."_  
 _"Tch, so first try to you attack us and then you thank us cos you had a good steal?" Scoffed Levi, slipping his knife back into his pocket.  
"Look I thought you were going to..." F/n paused and shook her head, trying to push back the painful memories. "It doesn't matter."  
"We hate people that do stuff like that!" Said Isabel firmly, folding her arms and frowning. "So are you looking to trade loot?"  
"Trade?"  
"Yeah, we have a large gang working with us, although we're the only ones with the ability to use the ODM Gear." She giggled. "So what do you have to trade?"  
"Oh...um, a coin pouch and maybe two days worth of food for myself."  
"Nothing worth our time then." Remarked Levi, striding past her. "Isabel, Farlan, let's go."  
"Hey wait!" Called f/n, an idea suddenly springing to mind. "What if we started working together?"  
"Why would we do that?"  
"Well you guys can distract the merchants using your gear, that way I can sneak in and steal large amounts of cash to split between the four of us."   
"Hmm what do you reckon?" Quizzed Farlan, placing his hands on his hips and looking at Levi._  
 _"Find us at the market place tomorrow." Shrugged the raven haired male, his piercing grey eyes locking with her e/c ones. "We'll see what you can do."_  
  
"That was the first time I encountered Levi, Farlan and Isabel." Mused f/n with a sad smile.  
Mike nodded and silently continued to listen, she seemed a lot more at ease talking about this part of her life and even seemed to be relaxing around him a little more, maybe she was finally starting to realize that she could indeed trust him.  
"Our first time working together went pretty well, I managed to help them clear out half a warehouse before the merchants realized what was happening and summoned the Military Police." Shaking her head she allowed herself a cocky laugh. "By the time they got there we'd all cleared out with enough food to last us at least three to four days!"  
"So you were a good team back then too?" Questioned the blonde squad leader.  
"We were once we learned to trust each other, but there were a few instances where things didn't go according to plan."  
"We all make mistakes."  
F/n lowered her head and pursed her lips.   
"When we became closer and started to bond as a team, we began to plan bigger jobs. Although it cost us dearly when a rival gang caught up with us a couple of months later."  
  
 _After another successful raid on one of the large merchant company warehouses near the market place, f/n had followed Levi and the others back to their home to go divide up their loot before she returned to her own dwelling to eat and rest before they planned another._  
 _"Looks like we hit the jackpot today!" Smiled Isabel, her dark green eyes eagerly eyeing up the fresh loaves of bread piled up in the middle of the table._  
 _"Yeah, sorry I screwed up though." Muttered f/n sheepishly, lowering her head. "If I hadn't set off that stupid trip wire linked to the alarm bell we could've gotten a lot more cash out of that storage chest."_  
 _"Hey we still got a decent amount." Comforted Farlan, patting her shoulder. "Besides, Jan had already started passing the signal down the line that the merchants were on their way to pick up more stock so you technically did us a favour."_  
 _"Heh, you did well taking down that idiot who clearly ate too many pies though!" Laughed the excited red head. "Your knife skills are really coming along nicely."_  
 _"Yeah, thanks to you guys." Smiled f/n, glancing towards where Levi was sat cleaning his knife, looking up for a moment to spare her a nod before resuming his task. "So we split everything four ways as usual?"_  
 _"Yep of course, although don't forget we need to keep a little bit more of the cash to pay the others for their efforts."_  
 _"Got it, so how do you wanna do this regarding the food we took?"_  
 _"Well obviously we need to keep all the tea for Bro!" Giggled Isabel, failing to notice Levi was once again looking up from his task and glaring at her with a raised eyebrow upon hearing himself pop up in conversation._  
 _"I think I might make myself some soup for the next few days." Mused f/n, eyeing up the contents of the table. "So I'll give you guys a bigger cut of my cash if you let me take a few extra pieces of meat."_  
 _Farlan nodded and picked up the large pile of cash they had obtained during their raid, preparing to count and divide it between them._  
 _However before he could start the process, the door burst open and a member of their little group rushed towards them._  
 _"Guys, there's a fire in the southern most part of the city!" He gasped. "It looks like a rival gang raid, you might want to get your asses over there and check it out, might be a good opportunity for some looting!"_  
 _"Oh no!" Gasped the young thug, standing up so quickly she knocked her chair backwards onto the floor. "My hideout is in the southern quarter!"_  
 _"Isabel, grab your gear and go on ahead!" Ordered Levi, putting his knife away and standing up. "We'll be right behind you."_  
 _"Got it Bro!"_  
 _F/n swallowed hard, desperately hoping and praying to whatever gods may have existed that life would cut her some slack...just this once._  
  
 _By the time Farlan and Levi caught up with Isabel after taking it in turns to carry f/n on their backs, large clouds of thick black smoke covered most of the southern quarter of the Underground City, choking anyone mad enough to get within close range of it._  
 _The fire had been started deliberately, but thankfully the Military Police had arrived quickly and gotten it under control to make sure it didn't spread. However the damage had been done..._  
 _Levi landed on a rooftop a few yards away from the now burnt out building, carefully setting f/n down and looking towards the charred smoking mess._  
 _"No!" She gasped, her hands going to her mouth. "My home! It's gone!"_  
 _"Was there anything valuable in there?" Inquired Farlan worriedly, remembering that she had a large sack of cash stowed away in there that she had been saving for buying her citizenship on the surface._  
 _"Only my clothes and everything that was already in there when I took possession." She sighed, staring longingly at the place that had once been the closest thing she'd had to a proper home for the past three years, now reduced to a burnt out husk._  
 _"What about the money you'd been saving for your surface citizenship?"_  
 _"I always bring it with me before a job and leave it under the loose floorboards in Isabel's bedroom."_  
 _"Heh, not a total loss then." He mused, flashing her a coy smile._  
 _"I'm still homeless though...again."_  
 _Levi's cold grey eyes narrowed as he silently surveyed the ruined building, there was no way it was going to be habitable again anytime soon._  
 _"What about if she comes to live with us?" Piped up Isabel. "You and Levi already share a room and can bunk up with me!"_  
 _"It would certainly make planning jobs a lot easier." Agreed Farlan, scratching his chin and turning to look at Levi. "What do you think?"_  
 _Levi rolled his eyes and folded his arms, it wasn't really an ideal situation in all fairness. However Farlan did have a point about arranging their jobs being a lot easier if they were all gathered in one place to begin with, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all._  
 _"Oi f/n."_  
 _"Yeah?"_  
 _"Your cleaning had better be as good as your lock picking skills!"_  
  
"So he was a clean freak back then too huh?" Smirked Mike, looking back to the now empty bottle of whiskey on his desk and realizing that he and f/n had drained it dry.  
"Yeah." She yawned, rubbing her eyes and blinking rapidly, fighting to stay awake. "After I went to live with them, they stole a set of ODM Gear for me and taught me how to use it. Jobs became a lot easier after that and so did getting away before the Military Police could catch up with us, outrunning them was always the fun part if I'm honest."  
Mike's smirk melted into a genuine caring smile when she yawned again, the whiskey they had downed was clearly starting to take effect on her.  
"It's late, you should probably get some sleep."   
F/n shrugged and pushed herself off the desk, swaying a little uneasily on her feet for a moment before finding her balance and turning to face him.  
She wasn't drunk, a little tipsy maybe but definitely still aware of what she was doing.  
"You can't go back to your room smelling of alcohol." Said Mike, suddenly remembering that she would need to go past Commander Shadis's office on the way back to the female dormitory and if he were to see her wandering around the castle at night...  
"So what am I supposed to do?"  
Sighing deeply Mike knew it was a bad idea even suggesting it, but what other choice did he have?  
"You can stay here."  
Blinking rapidly, f/n's eyes widened visibly.   
"Do you want to risk waking the commander and letting him find out you've been having an unauthorized drinking session?"  
"Not unless you want me to paint the walls with his blood!"  
"Well then."  
"Um, but where will I sleep?"  
Now Mike had a problem, he didn't dare risk suggesting they shared a bed after what she had told him about her past.   
He was just starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel where gaining her trust was concerned and he sure as hell didn't want to mess things up, not after he'd made such significant progress.  
"You take the bed, I'll sleep at my desk."  
Swallowing hard, f/n looked towards the bedroom door for a few seconds before turning back to Mike.  
"I...um...I don't really want to be on my own." She admitted worriedly, rubbing the back of her neck.   
Now it was Mike's turn to be taken back by the current situation, had she really been so badly affected by opening up to him about her past that she was too afraid to sleep for fear of what she might see in her dreams? Not that be blamed her, what she had told him had left him feeling physically sick.  
"Alright, but if you feel uncomfortable tell me and I'll leave the room."  
"Thanks...Squad Leader."  
"Just call me Mike."


	12. Chapter 12

Mike wasn't sure how long it had finally taken for f/n to stop tossing and turning, but eventually she had given in and fallen asleep.   
At least that was the impression he got from her slow and steady rhythmic breathing.  
He frowned and sighed, laying next to her in the semi darkness and gently running his fingers through her hair as she slept in his arms.  
To try and make her feel more at ease, instead of stripping down to just his shorts like he normally would when he retired for the night, Mike had simply rid himself of his harness, boots and jacket while keeping his trousers and shirt on.  
He wasn't entirely sure whether the alcohol she'd consumed earlier was having much of an effect on her by how coherent and alert she seemed, but she was a little unsteady on her feet when he led her back through to the bedroom and watched her remove her own jacket, harness and boots before climbing into the large bed.   
She had seemed willing enough to share it with him, even if she had stared at him for a solid ten minutes looking every bit like a scared child when he climbed in beside her and pulled the thick blanket up over the two of them before deciding to try and get some rest.   
Still, the last thing he wanted was for f/n to wake up and panic at seeing him almost naked after what she had told him earlier that evening.  
He felt sick every time the thought entered his mind, but in a way he was glad that he now finally understood a little better why the former thug was so reluctant to trust anyone in the regiment apart from Levi.  
His steel blue eyes narrowed to slits as he tightened his grip on her and buried his nose into her scalp, discreetly inhaling the untainted scent of wild flowers and fresh grass that he had come to associate with her recently.  
A small smile spread across his stubble framed lips at not having Levi's lingering scent mingling with that of f/n's, although this soon disappeared when she moaned and shifted in her sleep.  
He tensed up for a moment and held his breath, watching her closely and wondering if she may wake up.   
Thankfully she remained asleep and simply snuggled further into his warm firm chest before sighing and laying still once more.  
Mike's brows furrowed as he rested his chin on her head and stared at the stone wall behind her, studying the diamond pattern shadows from the lead lined window that the moonlight cast as it penetrated the small gap in the curtains.  
Having f/n sleep in his arms like this had finally made him realize something that he had been questioning himself about for a while now: his feelings towards her.  
At first he had just wondered if it was simply curiosity because he couldn't read her by scent alone, which was usually how he got to know what someone was like.  
However something about f/n had stumped him and he couldn't seem to gain any information about her from it, apart from that she was from the Underground City and wasn't someone who would back away from a fight. Anything after that was completely unobtainable, the mask of the attitude she chose to hide behind served its purpose well and prevented anyone from seeing her true self.  
Yet now Mike had been allowed in, to see who she really was, he knew once and for all that he wanted to be more than just a friend to her.  
He wasn't a fool though, he knew he couldn't just come out and tell her how he felt about her.   
She had a very traumatic past that clearly still bothered her, no matter how hard she tried to push it to the back of her troubled mind.   
No, he would wait.   
He would take each day as it came to earn her full trust and see if there was truly a place in her heart for him, but it had to be her choice and he had no intention of forcing her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with.  
If indeed she was willing to give him a chance, then he would do his best to keep her safe and make sure she was treated well. On the other hand, if she didn't want to be romantically involved with him, then he would respect her decision and leave her alone.  
Moments later a small groan broke the tranquil silence of the bedroom, earning his immediate attention.  
"Levi?"  
The tall squad leader frowned but didn't speak.  
Of course she was going to ask for the short raven haired male, he was the closest thing she had to a family member...she was hardly going to say his name was she?  
Gently rubbing her clothed back, Mike hesitantly rested his forehead against hers as an act of comfort, feeling satisfied when she sighed and once again slept peacefully.  
Humming thoughtfully he shifted his position slightly and closed his eyes, maintaining his grip on f/n and eventually falling asleep himself.  
  
The pale moon peeked out from behind a layer of thick grey clouds which covered the sky and shrouded the stars from view, casting its silver rays onto the world below.  
The peaceful silence swept across the land and made it seem almost serene, one might even be forgiven for forgetting about the monsters that lurked beyond the safety of the walls had they been audience to the magnificent view from above.  
Trees swayed in the gentle breeze, while blades of grass trembled below as the world slumbered...well almost...  
The sound of a lone owl flying over the Survey Corps Headquarters, letting out a series of low hoots broke the silence of the night and instantly jerked f/n awake.  
"Huh?" She mumbled, her eyes instantly snapping open to be greeted by the silver moonlight casting thick dark shadows against the stone wall opposite her. "Where am I?"  
Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the sound of someone snoring softly behind her, then suddenly realization kicked in.  
This wasn't her dormitory.  
The bed was far too comfortable for a start and since when did she share it with anyone?  
Swallowing hard she also came to realize that whoever it was, they had an arm wrapped protectively around her waist.   
Their large hand gently rested against her stomach and she could clearly feel warm breath feathering against her nape. Had she sleep walked into Levi's room and climbed into his bed? She certainly hoped so, not daring to think about what she would do if she found out she was in a random soldier's bed...  
Slowly turned her head back to glance behind, her e/c eyes widening slightly when her memory finally started to kick in.  
A handsome male with his dark blonde bangs almost covering his eyes while he peacefully slept greeted her, gentle snores passing his slightly parted stubble lined lips.  
F/n winced as everything came back to her, she remembered it all...  
Shuddering violently she choked back a sob, she'd not spoken of what happened to her back in the Underground City for years...so why did she finally feel the need to speak to this man about it?  
Staring at his sleeping features, a small smile crossed her face for a brief moment before morphing into a confused frown.  
'Why the hell am I feeling like this?' She mused internally. 'This bastard came hunting us down in the Underground City, he assaulted Levi when we first met...'  
Yet after the recent events on the expedition where Mike had saved her from being eaten by a titan and then when they returned to the castle, made an attempt at looking after her and trying to calm her down when she had been denied the right to see Levi in the infirmary...  
Levi.  
Carefully wriggling around to test Mike's grip on her, f/n started to cautiously pry his arm from around her waist.  
Biting her lip nervously, she slipped out of his warm embrace and slowly placed his limb down on the mattress, tensing up slightly when he groaned and adjusted his position.  
Exhaling deeply with relief when he didn't wake up, f/n silently started to pull her boots and jacket on, deciding to just carry her harness since she was planning on returning to her own dormitory before sunrise.  
Straightening her uniform and running her fingers through her hair, she turned back to Mike one last time and watched him for a few moments before approaching the bed and leaning over him, wincing when she felt the mattress shift under her weight.  
"I'm sorry I can't stay, but I have to see Levi." She whispered, gently brushing his bangs away from his face. "Thank you for saving my life and not judging me by my past, good night...Mike."  
Hesitantly moving closer to him, she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before straightening up and heading for the door, glancing back one last time at the sleeping squad leader before leaving the room.  
Quietly closing Mike's office door behind her, f/n frowned and looked around the dimly lit corridor.   
The silence of the deserted area was broken only by the low burning snaps and crackles from their flames of the torches in their brackets as they cast their dying orange light across the stone walls and floor.  
Knowing full well she would need to make a quick dash across the courtyard and sneak past the commander's office to reach the infirmary, f/n quickly jogged off down the corridor, keeping her eyes and ears open for any scouts that might attempt to apprehend her...  
  
Mike shifted and groaned in his sleep, stretching his arm across the bed and furrowed his brows upon finding an empty space where f/n should've been.  
Slowly opening his eyes and blinking in the dim moonlight that fell across the bed, he noticed that she was indeed no longer laid next to him.  
"F/n?" He called out, wondering if perhaps she was using the bathroom.   
Deciding to check, he climbed out of bed and padded over to the door, wincing slightly when his bare feet made contact with the cold stone floor.  
"F/n are you in there?" He questioned, gently knocking on the door.  
After receiving no response, he cautiously pushed the door open and looked inside.  
Glancing over at the chair in the corner of the room, he noticed it was missing a jacket and harness, also there was now only one pair of boots tucked under it.  
Sighing deeply he ran a large hand back through his sleep ruffled hair and shook his head.   
"Damnit."  
  
Rushing across the courtyard, f/n cringed and silently cursed every time she failed to avoid a puddle.  
The loud splash of her boots hitting the still water may as well have been a large rock crashing into a lake from a great height, she was absolutely certain that someone was going to hear her at this rate.  
Thankfully however the courtyard remained deserted and she safely made her way across it to the other side without being seen, at least that was the impression she got anyway.   
Now for the tricky part...making it past Commander Shadis's office.  
She cared not for the fact that he would severely punish her for trying to sneak into the infirmary as well as being out of her dormitory after lights out, right now she only wanted to see Levi.  
Swallowing hard and making her way down the dimly lit corridor as quietly as she could, a door a little further ahead to her right opened with a loud creak.  
"Shit!" She gasped, frantically looking around for somewhere to hide.  
"Get some sleep Erwin." She heard a familiar gravel laced voice say from the doorway, easily recognizable as that of Commander Shadis.  
"Sir." Replied the bushy browed squad leader, offering his superior a salute before making his way down the corridor in the very direction that f/n had been heading.  
Quickly noticing a pile of crates to her left, probably supplies from the expedition that had not been properly put away yet, f/n dived behind them and pushed herself into a small gap between two of the larger ones.  
The sound from Erwin's boots echoing off the stone floor started to grow louder with each step he took, he was starting to near her location.  
Holding her breath, f/n daringly leaned forward so she could see through a small crack in between the crates and narrowed her e/c eyes, wondering what this blonde bastard would do if he actually caught her.  
For a moment she feared she may find out the answer to that particular question, since Erwin had now stopped in front of the door near where she was hiding and was currently staring in her direction.  
Raising a bushy eyebrow he remained silent and focused for what felt like an eternity for f/n, which wasn't helped by the fact that was now running out of oxygen and would soon need to draw fresh breath or risk passing out where she crouched.  
'Damnit, move you bastard!'   
Shrugging his broad shoulders, Erwin slowly walked away back towards his office, his footsteps finally starting to grow faint and finally disappearing as he turned the corner.  
Slowly letting out the breath she had been holding, f/n waited another minute before emerging from her hiding place and treading carefully as she started to make her way towards the commander's office.  
Once she passed it, there was only one more corridor to go down before she would finally reach her destination, if she could make it past without disturbing the commander that was...  
Nervously biting her lip, she tip toed past the large wooden door that had become so familiar to her over the past several months when she was often called into the room beyond to face punishment after punishment.  
Just as she thought she had made it past safely, the loud creak of a door opening just head of her broke the eerie silence of the dimly lit corridor and caused her to panic.  
Forgetting that she was meant to be sneaking around as quietly as possible f/n bolted, internally cursing herself for the way her boots nosily slapped off cold stone floor.  
"Damnit I'm going to wake up the entire fucking castle!" She panted, spying the junction in the long corridor which branched off to the left towards the infirmary.  
"Oi you!" Shouted a voice as she made it to the corner and dived around it, pressing her trembling body up against the wall as loud angry footsteps grew closer to her.  
"Shit! shit! Shit!" She whispered, frantically looking for somewhere to hide, but unfortunately finding nothing.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing out of your dormitory at this time of night runt?"  
Biting her lip so hard she nearly drew blood, the former thug remained frozen in place as the footsteps finally stopped roughly a meter from the junction in the corridor.  
"I'm sorry Sir, I just needed to use the bathroom!" Squeaked a timid male voice, causing her eyes to widen. "I'm going back to bed right now!"  
"See to it that you do." Snarled Commander Shadis menacingly, his footfalls slowly growing fainter with each passing second. "Next time don't drink too much before sleeping or tie a fucking knot in it!"  
"Yes Sir, sorry Sir!"  
"Damnit it all to hell, that was close!" Muttered f/n, raising a hand to her chest and resting her palm over her rapidly beating heart.  
Looking back towards the junction, she saw a young male scout, clearly a new recruit if his height and youthful appearance were anything to go by. Frowning she remained as still as a statue and waited for him to pass, hoping and praying to whatever gods may have existed that he wouldn't turn and look in her direction, which thankfully he didn't.  
Nodding in satisfaction once he had disappeared, f/n continued her journey to the infirmary, halting outside the double doors leading into it and formulating a plan of how best to infiltrate it and find Levi.  
  
Deciding that he needed to make sure f/n hadn't done anything stupid, Mike pulled on his boots and jacket before leaving the bedroom and heading into his office.  
He dreaded to think what might happen if Commander Shadis caught her wandering around the castle at this time of night, but then again she wasn't some helpless little girl when it came to the commander's verbal abuse.  
Shaking the thought from his head he exited the office and closed the door behind him, pausing and sniffing the air to see if he could pick up her scent and find out the direction she had taken.  
Several thoughts sprung to mind, she could've returned to her own dormitory, although that seemed unlikely. Maybe she had sneaked off to the cellar and stolen a bottle of wine so she could try and get drunk as a means of forgetting earlier events? No she only ever seemed to do that when she and Levi were watching the stars on the battlements together.  
Suddenly something clicked in his mind.  
Levi, of course.   
Chances were she had decided to try her luck sneaking into the infirmary to see how he was.  
Clicking his tongue thoughtfully, the tall squad leader started walking off down the corridor towards the courtyard. His office was only a short walk away from the main exit leading out to the aforementioned area, so depending on how long she had been gone before he woke up, he might be able to catch up with her just before she reached Commander Shadis's office...if he was lucky.  
"Mike?"   
Looking around at the call of his name, Mike turned to his right and saw Erwin approaching from the corridor on his right.  
"Erwin." He greeted neutrally, regarding the other male with an impassive stare.  
"Where are you going?"  
"Need to clear my head." Lied Mike, hoping that his friend wasn't going to question him further and delay him finding f/n. "I'm going to get some air then try and go back to sleep."  
"I see, well don't forget we have a debrief tomorrow morning and the commander won't take too kindly to you not being fully rested."  
"I'll be fine."  
Satisfied with his explanation, Erwin gave Mike a small nod and brushed past him, leaving him stood alone in the otherwise empty corridor for a few moments before he once again started making his way out to the courtyard to find f/n.  
  
Sneaking into the infirmary had been easy...too easy in fact.  
Looking around the main male ward, f/n frowned upon seeing no sign of Levi in any of the simple wooden beds that were currently occupied by wounded scouts.  
"Damnit where the hell is he?"   
It wasn't as if she could just walk up to one of the infirmary staff and casually ask where her best friend was and if he was okay, chances were if she did they would report her straight to Commander Shadis.   
There was nothing else for it, she would just have to start sneaking in and out of each individual side room until she found him.  
Before she could decide where to start however, a door to her right opened and two scouts walked out.  
Quickly ducking back behind a small crate to her left, she narrowed her eyes and watched them closely.  
"I can't believe he's still out cold." Sighed a familiar bespectacled brunette that f/n instantly recognized as Hanji. "Is there any way of knowing how much longer he's going to be like that?"  
"Afraid not." Said the other female, closing the door behind them. "His injuries are consistent with being thrown and landing quite hard, he's lucky his spine didn't snap!"  
F/n's eyes widened slightly, could it be that they were talking about Levi?  
"Damn, can we not try using the smelling salts on him again?"  
"No, I think it's best if we leave him to come round naturally, forcing him to might do more harm than good."  
"Alright." Sighed Hanji, placing her hands on her hips and pursing her lips. "I'll check on him again in an hour and inform you if there's any change."  
The second female nodded and walked away, leaving Hanji stood alone outside the room for a moment to shake her head in dismay before walking away.  
When she was certain the coast was clear, f/n slowly crept out of her hiding place and made her way over towards the heavy wooden door of the room, checking that there was no one else around before nervously pushing the door open and peeking inside, her breath catching in her throat at the sight that greeted her.  
Sure enough, just as she suspected it was Levi they had been talking about.  
He laid on his back underneath the pristine white sheets, arms straight by his sides and his chest gently rising and falling with each steady breath he took.  
"Levi?" Called f/n hopefully, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her before approaching him.  
Unfortunately she was greeted by only silence.  
"Levi come on wake up, it's me f/n!"   
Once again, no sound or movement from her best friend.  
Cautiously reaching out her hand, f/n gently brushed his raven bangs from his eyes and scrutinized the clean white bandage that was wrapped around his forehead, it looked like it had recently been changed. Perhaps that was what Hanji and the other scout had been doing just before she arrived?  
Deciding she didn't care, she looked towards the corner of the room and found a simple wooden chair.  
Picking it up and moving it closer to the bed, f/n sat down and reached for Levi's hand.  
Squeezing it lightly she raised it to her face and gently nuzzled it before placing a light kiss on the warm pale skin.  
"Please don't die on me Levi." She whispered, tears forming in her e/c eyes as she continued to stare at his unconscious form. "I've already lost everyone else that matters to me...I can't lose you too."  
  
Mike finally reached the infirmary, walking straight through the heavy double doors and down the corridor.  
He'd known in the back of his mind that this was going to be the one place she would come to, she'd been too worried about what state Levi was in to care about what Commander Shadis thought, that much was made abundantly clear earlier.  
Entering the main male ward area, Mike stopped and closed his eyes. Raising his head slightly he sniffed the air, humming thoughtfully when a trace of wild flowers and fresh grass reached his nostrils, however there was no accompanying trace of black tea and soap as there usually was when she was around Levi.  
Furrowing his brows he decided to check the side rooms, there were only a handful of them and all he needed to do was stick his head around the door and have a quick sniff.  
Turning around to leave and begin his search, he was suddenly met by the feeling of something...or more appropriately put, someone bumping into his chest while checking some medical notes.  
"Oh sorry about that...Mike?"  
"Hanji?" He questioned, looking down at the bespectacled member of his squad. "What are you doing here?"  
"Well as you know I have a bit more understanding of medical procedures than your average scout, so I volunteered my services for the evening." Cocking her head to one side she smiled. "I take it you bumped into Moblit on your way here?"  
Mike frowned and cocked his head to one side, not quite understanding what she was currently talking about.  
"Follow me."  
Turning away, Hanji started to walk towards the small corridor where the private rooms were situated, stopping outside the first one and nodding to the door.  
"I found her asleep in there a few moments ago, I have no idea she'd sneaked in until I conducted my hourly check. I'd actually not long sent Moblit to your office to let you know she was here."  
"Is he awake yet?"  
"He wasn't when I last checked on him." She mused sadly. "Poor f/n must be really worried about him if she was willing to sneak in here to see him at the risk of the commander punishing her for being insubordinate yet again."  
"Yeah well, he's the closest thing she has to a family." Said Mike, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the two sleeping scouts as he stepped into the room "They'd do anything for each other, no matter what the consequences."  
"Well I hope he pulls through. Take as long as you need, I'll stop anyone from coming in."  
 Mike nodded and walked towards the foot of the bed as Hanji quietly closed the door behind him, a small smile finding its way onto his face when Levi's eyelids twitched and slowly began to open...


	13. Chapter 13

Levi had no idea how long he'd been asleep for, but when he did finally wake up his entire body felt like a lead weight.  
Cold grey eyes slowly opening and blinking in the dim torchlight of the room, it took a moment for his fuzzy vision to clear, but his memory still remained hazy and he couldn't remember returning to the safety of the walls after the expedition...  
The expedition.  
His eyes instantly widened, he and f/n had been separated and placed in different squads, that much he did know.  
Trying to force himself to sit up, he soon fell back against the soft pillows when an intense stinging pain shot up his spine and practically paralyzed him.  
"Don't try to move just yet." Said a deep low male voice.   
Levi grunted and raised his head, narrowing his eyes at the shadowy figure stood at the foot of the bed.  
"Where the hell am I?" He rasped, feeling his dry throat burn as he spoke.  
"The infirmary, you were injured on the expedition."  
"Where's f/n?"  
The figure stepped forward to reveal themselves as a tall blonde scout with steel blue eyes, a dark mustache and goatee. Squad Leader Mike Zacharius.  
"Right beside you, has been for a while from what I hear."  
The raven haired male turned his aching head to the left and looked further down the bed, his harsh gaze softening when he noticed the peacefully sleeping figure.  
F/n's arms were folded against the mattress with her head placed on top of them, her breathing soft and even as she kept a loose grip on his hand.  
"Do you remember what happened?" Questioned Mike, placing his hands behind his back and continuing to stare down at Levi.  
"I remember leaving for the expedition and that you bastards had f/n and I separated."  
Mike nodded silently and turned his attention to f/n, who despite the angry tone of Levi's voice, seemed to be unaware that he was now conscious and didn't even twitch a muscle.  
"You were injured during a titan ambush." He explained, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the sleeping scout. "From what I was told you were thrown against a tree, you were unconscious when I found you."  
"Tch, that explains the fucking pain." Grunted Levi, wincing as he finally managed to move the arm which f/n had been holding onto and gently pulling it out of her grasp.   
"Her loyalty to you is commendable and she risks punishment if the commander finds out about this...but then again, you'd do the same for her."  
"What are you getting at?"   
Mike's expression remained as stoic and unreadable as ever, f/n may have finally started believing she could trust him, but Levi was going to need a little more convincing.  
"Commander Shadis still remains oblivious to the fact that you took food out to her and stayed in the storage shed before the expedition, I won't be informing him of this little indiscretion either."  
"What are you trying to achieve?"   
A deep sigh escaped Mike's lips, he was probably going to regret saying this but if he was going to prove that he wasn't the enemy, he didn't have much of a choice.  
"I know what happened to f/n in the Underground City when she was thirteen, she told me about Marcus and the brothel."  
Levi's cold grey eyes widened, his gaze locking with Mike's.  
"Why would she do that?"  
"I don't know, maybe the fact she thought she might lose you the way she lost the other two members of your group..."  
"Isabel and Farlan." Snarled Levi, gritting his teeth and hissing in pain as he moved his hand to gently brush a lock of stray hair away from f/n's face. "Their names...were Isabel and Farlan."  
Mike silently nodded in apology before continuing.   
"She feels that if she loses you she has nothing to live for, I wanted to convince her otherwise."  
"Tch, you have feelings for her don't you?"  
Mike didn't answer, simply choosing to glance over at f/n again as she slept, still blissfully unaware of the somewhat heated discussion he and Levi were having.  
"Get her out of here before that asshole commander finds her."   
Raising a questioning eyebrow, the tall squad leader remained silent and still, earning him an annoyed tut from the shorter male as he tried to get comfortable.  
"Well? What are you waiting for?"  
An amused snort left his lips as he finally stepped forward and carefully wrapped an arm around f/n's shoulders, slipping the other under her knees he lifted her out of the chair and into a bridal style hold.  
"I'll make sure she finds her way back here tomorrow morning."  
Levi nodded and narrowed his eyes, watching closely as Mike turned to leave, pushing the door open with his hip.  
"Oi...You hurt her and the titans will be the least of your problems."  
A small smirk adorned Mike's face as he nodded and left the room.  
"She'll be fine, try and get some rest."  
Once the door had closed and he was alone, Levi struggled to roll over onto his side, grunting at the pain in his spine and furrowing his brows.   
He knew full well that since he had clearly been out of it for several hours, falling asleep was going to be near as damnit impossible.   
Still at least he knew f/n was safe and for now, that was all that mattered to him. However he found it a little strange that she would tell someone she didn't trust such sensitive information about her past, but if she felt comfortable enough to disclose that to him then maybe...just maybe Levi could trust him to keep his mouth shut about her sneaking into the infirmary to see him.

Leaving the infirmary, Mike decided it would be best to take the longer route through the castle so he didn't need to pass by Commander Shadis's office.  
He knew Hanji and Moblit wouldn't breathe a word about f/n sneaking in to see Levi, mainly because Moblit was terrified of him and Hanji could see things from the former thug's point of view.  
After an uneventful walk back to his office, where thankfully no other scouts were encountered, Mike unlocked the door and proceeded to carry f/n back through to the bedroom.  
Placing her harness back down on the chair, he gently lay her down on the bed, removing her boots and jacket as carefully as he could so as not to startle her should she wake up.  
Thankfully she remained asleep and he was able to swing her legs up onto the bed before covering her over with the thick blanket before removing his own jacket and boots.   
Climbing back into the bed he lay down next to her and gently brushed her h/l h/c hair back behind her ear, watching her sleep for a moment before resting his head on the pillow next to hers.  
Furrowing his brows he sighed deeply, being in such close proximity allowed him to subtly inhale her scent, which unfortunately was once again tainted by black tea and soap thanks to her being around Levi.  
It had been inevitable of course and something that the tall squad leader was now used to, however that didn't mean that he had to like it.  
Slowly closing his eyes, Mike tried and failed to resist gently wrapping an arm around f/n when he felt her shuffle slightly further towards him...knowing that the dawn would most likely bring an awkward awakening for the both of them

Less than a couple of hours after Mike had finally fallen asleep, the sun started to rise on the eastern horizon, chasing away the shadows of the night and bathing the world in a golden glow.  
The rays of light eventually penetrated the curtains of Mike's bedroom and fell across the bed, brightening the room and slowly rousing its occupants.  
Feeling her face grow warm, f/n's eyes twitched and slowly fluttered open, surely it couldn't be time to get up already?  
Squinting against the bright sunlight, she brought her hand up to her face to shield it and looked around, blinking rapidly when she realized she was no longer in the infirmary at Levi's side.  
"What the hell?" She muttered to herself, sitting bolt upright before staring down at the sleeping squad leader next to her. "How did I end up back here?"  
She was slightly mad with herself for falling asleep and not sneaking off back to her own dormitory after she'd been to see Levi, she'd only planned on visiting him until Hanji showed up to check on him again...  
Suddenly a low groan brought her out of her thoughts and pulled her attention bad towards the bed's other occupant, who was now waking up.  
"You're awake then?" Asked Mike, stretching out and yawning before raising his half lidded gaze towards her.  
"I take it you followed me last night." She stated bitterly, averting her gaze and folding her arms across her chest.  
"I woke up to find you gone." Replied Mike evenly, noticing the dark look that had settled over her face. "I had an idea where you were, I brought you back here so that the commander wouldn't find you."  
"Thanks I guess."  
Sitting up, Mike kept his steel blue eyes focused on her.   
He'd been right to anticipate things would be awkward between them, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to make an effort to try and diffuse the situation.  
"Levi regained consciousness just as I found you."  
"What?" F/n's eyes widened so quickly her eyebrows almost raised to her hairline. "Is he okay?"  
"He'll be fine."  
"I've gotta go see him."   
Hastily leaping out of the bed, f/n quickly pulled on her harness, hopping around the room and cursing as she hastily struggled to put her boots on.  
"You might want to show your face in the mess hall first." Advised Mike, climbing out of the bed and reaching out to catch her as she stumbled and nearly crashed to the hard stone floor. "If Commander Shadis doesn't see you in there with the rest of the scouts it will likely give him an incentive to suspect that you disobeyed his orders."  
"To hell with that shithead!" Snapped f/n, yanking her arm free of his grip. "The only place I'm going is the infirmary."  
Finally something inside Mike snapped, he wasn't sure what it was, but he suddenly found his voice.  
"F/n l/n you're to report to the mess hall with the other scouts, that's an order!"  
F/n froze and slowly turned to look at him, her e/c eyes locking with his.  
"Oh so you're ordering me around now are you?" She inquired, placing her hands on her hips and glaring angrily at him. "I thought you were different but I guess I was wrong, you're just like every other asshole in this place!"  
"Do you trust me?"   
"What?"  
"Follow my orders and I'll make sure you're allowed to see Levi while I attend the officer's expedition debrief."  
Remaining silent and motionless, f/n continued to stare at him.  
"Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?" He continued, stepping closer to her and looking into her eyes.  
Once more f/n turned her head away, reluctant to admit that he had her on the back foot.  
The honest answer was to that question was no, he had never given her a reason to believe that he wasn't worthy of her trust.  
He had never let slip to the commander that she was the one breaking into the wine cellar, nor had he informed him that Levi had sneaked food out to her when she was supposed to be on starvation punishment for twenty-four hours or stayed in the storage shed with her that night either. Hell she'd even opened up to him about her past, why would she do that if she didn't feel a sense of trust towards him?  
"No." She muttered, refusing to look at him.  
Reaching out, Mike gently cupped her chin in his large hand and turned her head so that her gaze met his.   
"Make sure the commander sees you in the mess hall and I'll personally escort you back to the infirmary."  
"Fine."   
Releasing his grip on her, Mike exited the bedroom and made his way into the office, unlocking the door and checking the corridor.  
"It's all clear." He called back. "You should probably leave now before someone sees you."  
Picking up her jacket, f/n quickly put it on and made her way back to Mike, hastily stepping through the door and out into the deserted corridor.  
"Meet me in the courtyard after you've eaten."  
With a small nod, f/n frowned and looked up, her harsh gaze softening slightly when their eyes met.  
"Mike..."  
"Hmm?"  
"Thank you...for saving me yesterday and..." She hesitated, swallowing down her pride before continuing. "Everything else, I appreciate it."  
With a solemn nod, Mike watched her walk away down the corridor, a small smile adorning his face as he inhaled deeply and watched her leave.  
It would appear he had been right about her after all, she was finally starting to trust him...

"F/n over here!"   
Upon entering the mess hall, f/n turned to look over to a row of tables on the right and noticed Hanji madly waving at her to join her, Dita and Moblit.  
However she was in no mood for company and simply walked away to the opposite end of the mess hall to eat alone, failing to notice the disappointed look on the other females face.  
"I'm guessing she's still worried about her friend." Mused Dita, stirring his porridge and watching her sit down at a table in the corner with her back to them.  
"Well the good news is he regained consciousness last night." Smiled Hanji reaching for her cup of coffee. "The senior medics seem to believe that once the bruising goes down he'll make a full recovery."  
"Credit where it's due, not many people can get thrown against a tree and escape with their lives."   
"You're quiet today Moblit." Smiled the bespectacled brunette. "Care to weigh in?"  
"Um, not really." Replied the nervous scout, focusing his attention on his breakfast. "Maybe we should just leave her alone."  
Hanji frowned and continued to stare at f/n, pursing her lips thoughtfully.  
"I'm gonna go talk to her!"  
"That's really not a good idea." Said Moblit, remembering all too clearly the way the former thug had threatened her before the expedition. "Hanji wait!"  
However his advice fell on deaf ears and before he had even managed to finish speaking, Hanji was making her way over to the other side of the mess hall where f/n sat brooding.  
A smile crossed her face as she neared her target, yet before she could get there a large hand landed on her shoulder and turned her in the opposite direction.  
"Eh?" Inquired Hanji, feeling confused as her body was spun around to meet with a broad chest.  
Slowly looking up, she found herself looking into a pair of steel blue narrow eyes.  
"Ah, Morning Mike! Everything okay?"  
"Leave her alone." Said the tall squad leader lowly, already fully aware of her intentions without even being told what she was planning.  
"Is she okay?" Asked the bespectacled brunette worriedly. "Did something happen last night? Oh no don't tell me the commander found out about her sneaking in to see Levi."  
"No he didn't and she'll be fine, she knows Levi is awake now."   
"So what's wrong with her? She still looks upset."  
Mike didn't respond, deciding it was best to just let f/n have some personal space.   
"Leave her be for now, if she wants to approach you she will."  
Hanji grinned and folded her arms, raising her eyebrows at Mike's cryptic words.   
"Ah so has she finally started to realize that we mean her no harm? What happened? Tell me!"  
Unfortunately for Hanji, he didn't disclose an answer, instead choosing to walk away to the officer's table and leave her standing alone in the middle of the mess hall.

After breakfast, Mike made his way out to the courtyard and leaned against one of the stone pillars, patiently waiting for f/n to show up.  
Folding his arms he inhaled deeply, frowning when he failed to catch her scent on the cool breeze that cut through the already chilly morning air, however there was one scent he recognized and it was approaching fast...  
"Mike!"  
A small snort was the only response Hanji received as she stopped in front of him and flashed him her best smile.  
"Oh come on don't be like that!" She pouted, still desperate to know what had happened earlier when he left the infirmary with f/n.   
"How was Levi when you checked on him after I left." Inquired Mike, changing the subject when he saw a familiar h/l h/c haired female approaching.  
"Oh he was fine, in pain and moody but apart from that he was his usual quiet self."  
Mike nodded and turned his attention towards f/n as she stopped a couple of meters away from him and raised her eyebrows questioningly, an action which didn't go unnoticed by Hanji.  
"Morning Sweetie, how are you feeling?"  
Unfortunately for Hanji, her enthusiastic greeting was met with a frown and silence.   
F/n clearly wasn't in the mood for talking, mainly because she wanted to see Levi, but also due to the fact that she still wasn't ready to start being friendly towards anyone else in the regiment yet.  
"Are you ready?" Asked Mike, cutting Hanji off before she could start firing more questions at her.  
"Yeah."  
"Huh? Ready for what? Where are you going?"  
"Geez don't you ever shut up?" Snapped f/n, shooting the bespectacled brunette a harsh glare.  
"Oh f/n chill out, Levi's fine!" Hanji giggled realization dawning on her and slapping her across the back, earning a very irritated growl from the recipient of her gesture. "If anything I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."  
"Can we go yet?"   
Mike nodded and started to walk away, closely followed by f/n.  
"Try not to wear him out, he's probably still going to be a little groggy." Called Hanji, watching them leave with a manic smile playing upon her lips before sighing and shaking her head. "He will definitely be pleased to see you though."

After a short and awkwardly silent walk through the castle, Mike and f/n finally stopped outside the doors leading to the infirmary.  
"The medics should be done with their morning rounds by now."  
"Alright." Replied f/n, keeping her sight firmly fixed on the large wooden barriers that were currently separating her from her best friend.   
Nodding, Mike opened the doors and led f/n back through the area to the room he had found her in last night.  
Upon reaching it, they found the door slightly ajar and a voice could be heard from inside.  
"The pain in your back should subside in a few days, you were very lucky."   
Swallowing hard, f/n risked a peek around the door, her heart almost leaping into her mouth when she saw a fully conscious Levi sat up in the bed glaring at the medic who had just finished her examination of him.  
"Levi!" She called out before she could stop herself and bursting into the room.  
The raven haired male's steel eyed gaze instantly turned towards her, while he didn't smile at her, the usual harshness in his apathetic grey orbs visibly softened.  
Ignoring the disapproving look she was currently receiving from the confused medic, f/n flung herself at him and embraced him in a bone crushing hug which caused him to grunt in pain as his back collided with the pillows currently propping him up.  
"Shit sorry." She smiled sheepishly, adjusting her grip on him. "I'm just so glad to see you finally awake."  
"What is the meaning of this?" Snapped the medic angrily, clearly unimpressed by f/n's display of affection.  
"She has permission from the commander to see him." Said Mike, remaining in the doorway and making no effort to enter the room.  
"I see, well try not to cause too much ruckus. You would do well to remember that he is recovering from a back injury, any sudden jerking movements could set back his recovery quite drastically!"  
F/n snorted, keeping her arms firmly wrapped around Levi's neck and shooting the other woman a silent sneer as she made her way over to Mike, muttering about "certain standards of decorum needed to be observed, regardless of personal relationships" before brushing past him.  
Watching with a small smile as f/n once again hugged Levi, burying her face into the crook of his neck, Mike exchanged a silent nod with the shorter male before closing the door and allowing them to talk in private.  
Leaving the infirmary, he stopped outside the doors and raised his head, inhaling deeply before making his way back through the castle to Commander Shadis's office for the officer's expedition debrief.

"I thought I'd lost you yesterday." Muttered f/n, tightening her grip on Levi slightly, yet still being careful not to cause him any pain.  
"Tch, I'm fine."   
"You scared the shit out of me you asshole!" She retorted, finally releasing him and seating herself on the bed.  
"Well at least you won't be suffering with constipation anytime soon."  
"As opposed to you who looks like shit at the moment?"  
Levi rolled his eyes and winced as she adjusted his position, rubbing the back of his still bandaged head.   
"Are you okay?"  
"Tch, my head feels like it's been kicked in."  
"Aren't they giving you any medication to try and numb it?" Frowned f/n, concern evident in her voice.  
"Not long before you arrived, speaking of which...what the hell is the deal with that big ass tree following you around?"  
Averting her gaze, f/n swallowed hard.   
She'd wondered how long it was going to take for Levi to raise that particular subject with her, although little did she suspect that he was already aware of Mike's feelings for her...even if she wasn't.  
"He saved my life on the expedition." She said quietly, her e/c eyes locking with his. "After you were knocked out, the titan turned its attention to me and would've eaten me if he hadn't shown up..."  
Levi nodded and clicked his tongue thoughtfully, considering how to word his next question without upsetting her.  
"So what made you tell him about when you were a teenager?"  
F/n's breath caught in her throat, her e/c eyes widening at his blunt inquiry.   
"I...um..."   
"Tch, you never were any good at remaining strong under pressure." He mused, raising his hand and slapping it down lightly on her head before proceeding to ruffle her hair. However his tone darkened as he spoke again. "Unless he forced you to tell him about it because you were about to go on one of your rampages."  
"No!" Gasped f/n, swiping his hand away. "It was nothing like that!"  
"So what was it like? Why do you suddenly feel the need to be so open with him?"  
"I don't know!" She snapped, burying her head in her hands and letting out a frustrated growl. "I guess I was angry and upset because of what happened to you and it was the only way to make him understand why I was so hellbent on making sure you were okay."  
Slowly shaking his aching head, Levi continued to stare at her, his harsh gaze once again softening.  
"Yeah well, it may interest you to know that he has feelings for you."  
"What? Fuck off! How hard did you hit your head yesterday?"  
"He admitted as much to me." Snorted the raven haired male, reaching across to the table next to him for the glass of water currently sitting there. Gripping the glass by its rum he slowly raised to his lips and took a sip, keeping his attention on his friend the whole time. "You kept saying there was something about him that got under your skin, don't tell me it's not making any sense to you."  
F/n blinked rapidly, there was no way in hell Mike had feelings for her...was there?  
Although something about the whole way he was always watching her and had recently tried to earn her trust was slowly starting to creep into the front of her mind and occupy her thoughts.  
Why would Levi lie about something like this? The simple answer was that he wouldn't, but how was he able to pick up on this where she had failed? That was the part that was confusing her.  
"Well?"   
"I...I don't know." She finally replied, a deep frown settling over her features. "I mean yeah he's been staring at me a fair bit, we both know that...but...having feelings for me?"  
Levi remained silent and continued to watch her closely, his stoic expression remaining firmly in place as f/n continued to think on his words.  
"So he actually admitted it to you? He confessed to you that he has feelings for me?"  
"I asked him, he didn't exactly say yes but I could tell by his reaction." He answered. "So the next question is, how do you feel about him?"  
F/n almost choked on her own breath, still she had grown used to the raven haired males bluntness over the years so it didn't really come as a surprise to her how forward he was with his line of inquiry.  
Although if she was being completely honest with herself, it made sense.   
Why else would he be so desperate to prove himself to her when everyone else looked down on her? Why did he not report her to Commander Shadis for sneaking into the infirmary last night?  
"Oi f/n!"   
"Huh?"   
Shaking herself out of her thoughts she met Levi's gaze, staring at him worriedly as the final pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place in her mind.  
"Do you have feelings for him or not?"  
"I...I don't know." She confessed, averting her gaze and nervously biting her lip. "Even if I did, how could I have a meaningful relationship with someone after what happened to me?"  
Rolling his eyes thoughtfully, Levi leaned back against the pillows and frowned.   
"That would be your choice to make."  
A mirthless laugh escaped her lips as she shook her head and looked towards the stone ceiling.   
"Okay cards on the table, he's not a bad looking guy...a bit on the quiet side and that whole sniffing people thing is weird, but..."  
Levi raised an expectant eyebrow, silently urging her to continue.  
"I don't know, my head's all over the place at the moment."  
"Yeah well, do whatever you think is right."  
Nodding and flashing him a small appreciative smile, f/n once again lost herself in her thoughts.   
Did she really reciprocate Mike's feelings and if it came to pass that she did, would she ever be able to let go of the past and accept him?


	14. Chapter 14

Over the next few days Levi recovered well from his injuries and was discharged from the infirmary, returning to full active duty almost immediately.  
Things slowly started to pick up after that with a few of the other scouts starting to show a little more willingness to accept f/n and Levi into their ranks after word about them saving one of their number circulated, however unlike f/n who was now trying to make an effort to be civil to those who afforded her the same courtesy, Levi remained unapproachable and distant.   
Despite this, all was not as well as it seemed.  
After being informed of the fact that Mike had feelings for her, f/n started to distance herself from him as much as possible, something which did not go unnoticed the tall squad leader.  
It hurt that after seeming to make progress in getting her to open up to him, she was now doing everything in her power to avoid being near him unless absolutely necessary.  
If he was being completely honest with himself he had known something like this would happen, especially given her past and the trust issues that went with it.  
She wasn't used to people being nice to her without having ulterior motives and of course after what she had told him, it wasn't hard to see why she needed space to try and work out what she wanted and whether she did indeed reciprocate his feelings.

Folding his arms across his broad chest, Mike looked across the mess hall as f/n and Levi made their way over to a table to sit down for lunch.  
His brows furrowed slightly when the young female slowly turned her head and afforded him a momentary glance before slumping her shoulders and turning her back to him, she wasn't trying to hurt him intentionally and he knew that already, but it did little to comfort him or stop the dull ache in his chest he felt every time he looked at her.  
"You're staring at them again Mike."  
"Hmm?"  
Turning to his right, Mike was met by the concerned features of Erwin, his bushy brows furrowing as he regarded his friend.  
"Is she causing you as much trouble as Levi is me?"  
Mike frowned and stared down at his half eaten food, he knew all too well that he couldn't say he had feelings for the former thug or mention what had happened after the expedition.  
"She's a tough nut to crack." He shrugged, opting to keep his reply short and simple.  
"Yes well, she seems to be taking a more civil approach towards the other scouts now. Even Commander Shadis is impressed by the sudden change of attitude."  
"Only because they aren't trying to provoke her."  
Erwin narrowed his icy blue eyes and once again turned to regard the two solitary scouts, his gaze remaining fixed on them as he spoke again.  
"Perhaps she can convince Levi to do the same, the commander is still concerned by his lack of respect for authority and unwillingness to bond with his comrades."  
"Possibly."   
Standing from his seat, Mike picked up his plate and made his way to the kitchen area.   
There was a long afternoon of training ahead and he needed to prepare for it, but most of all...he needed to mentally steel himself for yet more awkwardness with f/n.

"Is he still staring at me?"  
"No he's leaving."  
Levi picked up his cup of tea, sipping it thoughtfully and keeping his steel grey eyes fixed on the female sat next to him.  
"So you've still not decided then?"  
F/n continued to idly stir her lukewarm soup, something she had been doing since she sat down and shook her head.  
"I don't know, just when I think I have everything clear in my head...something tugs me back in the opposite direction."  
"The bastard's really done a number on you, it's not like you to doubt yourself."  
"Don't I just know it!" She scoffed, deciding she wasn't hungry and pushing the still full bowl away from her before burying her head in her hands. "For fucks sake when did life become so damned complicated?"  
Placing his cup back down on the table, the raven haired male folded his arms.  
"Look it's your choice at the end of the day." He began. "You know I'll stand by you no matter what you decide, but you need to make your mind up and stick to it. No looking back, no regretting it and if I find out he's putting pressure on you..."  
"No he isn't, he seems to be respecting my personal space which is a relief." She sighed, uncovering the top half of her face and screwing her e/c eyes shut in frustration. "What would you do?"  
"Tch, considering I'm not you that question is irrelevant."  
"Okay say hypothetically you were me, if you'd been through what I had...what would you do?"  
Levi furrowed his brows, he'd had his own problems to deal with.   
How they compared to that of f/n's he couldn't really say, he might not have been almost dragged into a life of forced prostitution but he had suffered painful losses and betrayal that enforced a deep sense of mistrust in people, so at least they shared some common ground there.  
"If I were you...I'd stop putting myself under so much pressure to make my damned mind up, it's not going to help in the long run. We're not on an expedition you know, this isn't a life or death situation."  
F/n laughed humorlessly and rolled her eyes, resting her elbow on the table, she placed her chin on her palm and drummed the fingers of her free hand against the wooden surface.  
"Point taken, but what if I die before I've come to a decision?"  
"Then you won't have to worry about it will you?"  
"Not helpful Levi!"   
Levi shrugged and reached for his tea cup again, raising it to his lips he swallowed down the last few dregs before standing up.  
"In the end, you choose what you choose." He said softly. "Just make sure you don't regret it."  
"Got it." She replied, flashing him a sad smile. "See you later."  
With a small nod, the raven haired male left the table, gently placing his hand on her head and briefly ruffling her hair as he passed behind her.  
Snorting and pushing his hand away, the former thug allowed herself a small giggle at his affectionate gesture before once more frowning and turning her thoughts to the matter at hand.  
Would it ever be possible for her to reach a decision that she was comfortable with and not regret it, or was she doomed to remain stuck in limbo until the day she met her end?

Afternoon training soon got underway, commencing with hand to hand combat.  
Whilst this wasn't necessarily anything to do with fighting titans, it did help to improve a soldier's hand and eye coordination as well as reaction timing.  
Of course this was something Levi and f/n excelled at, living in the harsh environment of the Underground City for so long had certainly had its advantages as far as fighting was concerned.  
"Ooft, damnit!"  
Hanji blinked up rapidly at the bright sun overhead, once again finding herself on the dusty ground with f/n stood over her pinning her in place with a large wooden rifle prop.  
"You do realize that it's meant to be me overpowering you right?" She giggled, flashing her squad mate a wry smile.  
"Not my fault my reflexes are so sharp." Shrugged f/n, removing the prop from the other female's chest and offering a hand to pull her up.  
"Who taught you to fight?"  
"Levi."  
"Figures."   
Taking hold of f/n's hand, Hanji pulled herself up and brushed the dirt from her uniform before taking the wooden rifle prop again and assuming a battle ready stance.  
"It's nice to see you finally starting to bond with us."   
F/n shrugged and raised her fists to her face, putting her right foot back and bearing all of her weight down on it in preparation for the inevitable attack.  
Charging forward, Hanji aimed the muzzle of her makeshift weapon at the other female's chest and thrust it forward, however the result was once again the same.  
F/n grabbed the prop and spun wide, bringing the bespectacled brunette around with her. Pushing her away a second later and causing her to trip up over her own two feet, she smirked and shouldered the prop, hooking her arms over it as Hanji hit the ground and groaned.  
"You really never learn do you?" Sighed f/n, staring at the now flat on her face scout before raising an eyebrow in the direction of Moblit and Dita, noticing that one of the two men was chuckling.  
"What? None of you big tough men got enough balls to take me on?"   
Dita instantly silenced himself and pushed Moblit forward, causing a nervous shriek to escape his trembling lips.  
Walking towards the terrified male, f/n stopped in front of him and pushed her face closer to his, a sinister smirk slowly spreading across her features as she looked into his eyes.  
"Boo!"   
Moblit yelped and stumbled backwards, landing on his rear end before rolling onto all fours and scrambling away.  
"That was mean!" Laughed Hanji, moving to stand at f/n's side and folding her arms.  
"Yeah but it was pretty funny." Interjected Dita, earning him an amused smirk from the former thug.  
"What's going on here?"   
All eyes turned to look behind them at the sound of a deep voice questioning their actions, the smiles instantly vanishing from their faces as if they had been caught doing something they shouldn't.  
"Nothing happening here, just training!" Answered Hanji, trying to look innocent and failing miserably when a giggle forced its way past her lips.  
Mike raised an unconvinced eyebrow and leaned over her, sniffing her neck and making her squeal in an effort to stop herself from laughing again.  
"Hmm, I think that's enough hand to hand combat for today make your way to the stables. Take Dita and Moblit with you."  
"Okay, come on boys!" She said enthusiastically, gesturing for the two men to follow her.  
Once she had left Mike turned his attention to f/n, his stoic gaze softening slightly when their eyes locked.  
"It's good to see you finally starting to get along with the other members of this squad." He said lowly, the dull ache in his chest returning when she averted her gaze and folded her arms.  
"Yeah well, they're not so bad I guess." She shrugged, awkwardly shifting her weight from one foot to the other.  
Remaining silent, Mike swallowed hard wondering how to move forward from the current situation without feeling like he was putting pressure on her. The fact that she couldn't currently look at him spoke volumes, she clearly wasn't finding it easy to wrap her head around his feelings for her and as painful as it was for him, it was probably ten times worse in her already jumbled mind.  
"Head down to the stables, tell the others I'll be there soon."  
Surprisingly f/n didn't need to be told twice, unfolding her arms she briskly made her way across the training field.  
A pained grimace settled on her features as she left, but had she bothered to look behind her, she would've seen the exact same reaction mirrored on the face of the man she had just turned her back on...

The rest of the day passed by peacefully and training finally came to an end shortly before evening meal.  
Levi leaned back against the wall of the stables, folding his arms and waiting for f/n to finished tending to her horse, watching her closely as she threw a thick woolen blanket over its broad back to keep out the chill of the night air.  
He'd not seen her all day so he was keen to know how she was and whether or not she had come to a decision about Mike.  
"See ya tomorrow boy." She smiled, closing the stall door and gently patting her horse's neck before turning her attention to Levi.   
"You ready?" He asked in a bored tone.  
"Yeah, so how was your day?"  
"Shit."  
F/n giggled as they made their way back to the castle.  
"So have you made your mind up yet?"  
The smile instantly fell from the females face, replaced by a frown as she sighed and shook her head.  
"Not yet, I don't even think I'm close to coming to a decision."  
An awkward silence descended, the only sound breaking it being the dusty ground crunching beneath their boots.  
"You can't put it off forever."  
"I can give it a damn good try!"  
"Tch, you're an idiot!"  
F/n pouted and shoved the raven haired male's shoulder, sending him staggering forward a few steps before turning back to glare at her and receiving a giggle in reply.  
"What, you wanna start something?" She challenged, cocking her head to one side and placing her hands on her hips.   
Rolling his eyes, Levi started to walk away again.  
"It looks like it might be a clear night." He called, keeping his back to her but eventually stopping to allow her to catch up.  
"You hinting that you wanna do some star gazing tonight?"  
"You have other plans?"  
"No, but..." F/n sighed and kicked a small mound of dirt near her right foot with the toe of her boot, watching it scatter. "I'm on paperwork delivery duty...again."  
"Fine, I'll meet you outside Mike's office then." Shrugged Levi. "At least that way if you take too long I can drag your ass out of there before he tries anything clever."  
"Yeah sure." She replied, forcing a smile back onto her face and moving to walk beside him. "You do realize he won't dare lay a finger on me though right? I mean he's seen me throw Hanji around the training field like a rag doll."  
"Tch, are you sure you don't have feelings for him? You seem very quick to defend him."  
Once again the smile was wiped from her face, a deep frown replacing it accompanied by the red tinge of a blush rising on her cheeks.  
It had been a long day and to be honest the last thing she wanted to do was be around Mike for too long she was still so conflicted about whether or not she reciprocated his feelings for her.

As the sun slowly began to set in the western sky, Mike returned to his office and walked over to the large lead lined window behind his desk that overlooked the courtyard.  
His steel blue eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of several scouts walking across the area, some heading back to their dormitories while others settled themselves on the low wall to the northern side where they sat on the stone steps leading to the uniform stores and engaged in conversation.  
Turning away from the window, he moved to sit at his desk and lit the two tall candles that sat on it before leaning back in his chair, folding his arms across his broad chest and staring at the door.  
F/n was due to bring his evening paperwork any minute.  
While she didn't storm into his office and slam it down on his desk the way he had seen her do to Erwin on several occasions, he very much doubted that she would hang around in his office for long.  
It would probably be a case of handing it over, giving him a quick salute and then leaving as quickly as possible, the same as she had done for the past few days.  
Mike was a patient man, but even he had his limits and now he was willingly embracing his feelings for the former thug, it was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with her awkwardness and reluctance to be around him without looking for an escape. Still, he knew he had to let this run its course or else he risked pushing her away and this was the last thing he wanted.  
A knock on the door finally brought him out of his thoughts and pulled his attention towards it."  
"Yes?" He asked, his heart skipping a beat when the hope that it was f/n bringing his paperwork started to build inside him.  
However this hope was dashed when the door opened and Erwin walked in.  
"Erwin, what can I help you with?" He inquired, trying to sound neutral and at least look it despite the disappointment he currently felt.  
"I wondered if you fancied a drink tonight after we've completed our training reports." Smiled the bushy browed squad leader, halting in front of the desk and placing his arms behind his back.  
"I suppose." Shrugged Mike, trying to flash the other male a small smile and hoping it didn't look too fake.  
"Something wrong?"   
"No, but now that you mention it I could really do with a drink."  
Erwin nodded, his smile widening slightly.   
"Come to my office after you're finished with your paperwork."  
"Will do."  
Turning on his heels, Erwin walked away and closed the door behind him, once again leaving Mike alone with his thoughts until they were interrupted by the sound of voices outside...very familiar and rather agresive ones if he was being completely honest with himself.  
Inhaling deeply he caught the scent of fresh grass and wild flowers infused with black tea and soap, only this time the second scent seemed a lot stronger, so did that mean Levi was outside his office too?  
Mike was no stranger to the fact that the raven haired male had become more protective over f/n since the expedition, but surely she was strong enough to take care of herself without him feeling the need to watch her every move? She had proved she didn't need a body guard as far as he was concerned, so did her friend have an ulterior motive...perhaps he also had feelings for her and wasn't prepared to let Mike get in the way of them?  
'Now you're just being paranoid!' Mike scolded himself internally, screwing his eyes shut and shaking his head rather vigorously to try and push the idea out of his mind.  
F/n had already said that she and Levi were close, but she had never mentioned having feelings for him...but it could be a possibility that she did and that they were indeed reciprocated, after all they had known each other for several years compared to the few months Mike had known her and she wasn't exactly close to him like she was Levi.  
Finally another knock on the door allowed his to rid himself of his thoughts, for the moment at least.  
"Yes?"   
This time when the door opened, a young female scout with h/l h/c hair and e/c eyes walked in, forcing Mike to swallow down the thick lump forming in his throat as his heart started hammering in his chest...

"I don't need a babysitter Levi!" Laughed f/n, adjusting the stack of paperwork she was currently carrying as she made her way down the dimly lit corridor.  
Levi snorted but didn't reply, narrowing his eyes and glaring at her instead.   
"I'll be straight in and out." She reasoned. "You'll barely even notice I've been gone!"  
As much as f/n appreciated his protectiveness towards her, he had been a little too clingy since the incident on the expedition. Maybe telling that she had nearly been eaten during the storm they incurred wasn't the smartest move, but he was her best friend after all and she never kept any secrets from him.  
Turning the last corner before reaching Mike's office, the two wayward scouts stopped when the saw the door open and a tall blonde male step out into the corridor. His attention instantly turned to them as he closed the door behind him and watched them suspiciously.  
"Where are you two going?" He questioned incredulously.  
"I don't see how that's any of your business." Answered f/n bluntly, narrowing her eyes.   
"As long as you're both back in your dormitories before curfew."  
"Whatever, so are you going to leave us alone now or did you want something else?" Growled Levi, leaning against the wall and folding his arms, allowing his blatant lack of respect for the squad leader to show itself.  
Erwin raised a bushy eyebrow at them, clearly unimpressed by their attitudes towards him. However he was not in the mood for a confrontation and unless they decided to try and provoke him, he was prepared to leave them alone.  
"Yeah I thought so." Muttered f/n under her breath, a sly smirk slowly creeping across her lips as he turned on his back on them and walked away. "All mouth and no balls!"  
"Say it a bit louder next time." Challenged Levi.  
"Don't you start!" She snapped, shooting him an annoyed glare as she knocked on Mike's office door. "I'll be as quick as I can."  
"Yes?" Came the voice from the other side of the thick wood.   
"See you in a few minutes." She smiled, however the raven haired male did not return it, simply nodding and staring harshly as she disappeared into the office and closed the door behind her.

Upon entering the office, f/n swallowed hard and approached Mike's desk, feeling slightly unnerved by the intense stare that greeted her as she halted in front of it.  
"F/n." He greeted lowly, raising his head slightly to look into her e/c eyes.  
"Squad Leader." She replied evenly, placing the paperwork down in front of him before offering him a salute and turning on her heels.  
Mike was so taken back by the fact she had addressed him as "Squad Leader" and shown him respect, that he barely registered her walking back towards the door until she had reached it.  
"Wait."   
F/n winced as her hand closed around the brass handle, so much for making a hasty exit.  
The sound of wood scraping on stone behind her echoed through the room followed by slow footsteps which eventually halted near her.  
Inhaling deeply, Mike summoned his courage and spoke.  
"Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine."   
The tall officers steel blue eyes narrowed as he lowered his head slightly.   
"You're not a very good liar."  
"What do you want?" She growled, keeping her back to him so that he couldn't see the pained expression on her features.  
"I know Levi told you I have feelings for you."  
The former thug tensed up at his words, although it was no surprise that he knew...the bastard could sniff out anything.  
"Your point being?"  
Mike sighed, he hated the way she had suddenly started being so cold towards him again. Still, he had to try and get some answers about if his feelings were returned without putting pressure on her, the agony of not knowing was driving him mad. He couldn't even sniff out how what she was thinking which just made things worse, it was almost like she had managed to erect a wall designed to keep him out.  
"How do you feel about me?"  
'Damnit that came out wrong!' He mused internally, regretting it instantly when he saw the way her body suddenly went rigid.  
"What do you want me to do?" She questioned in a tone that dripped with irritation. "Declare my undying love for you and throw myself into your arms?"  
Maybe he deserved that for being so forward, but he needed to know before he completely lost his mind.  
"Not at all." He answered. "A simple yes or no would've been acceptable."  
Biting her lip and exhaling deeply, f/n finally turned to face him and raised her head, looking into his eyes.  
It was hard for her to deny that he wasn't a handsome man. Hypnotic steel blue orbs, a bit on the rugged side yet gentle despite his strong build and honest when it came to keeping his promises as he had already proven on several occasions. However there was still that little part of her past that gnawed away at her in the back of her mind whenever she started to get close to someone, especially if they happened to be male...  
"I'll wait as long as it takes." Said Mike gently, breaking the awkward silence that had descended and cautiously reaching out to brush a few stray hairs back behind her ear. "There's no pressure to make a decision."  
F/n flinched away slightly when his hand came closer to her face, but relaxed a moment later when his fingertips gently brushed the skin of her temple.  
Her eyes slowly fluttered closed and she found herself leaning her head into his open palm, relishing the warmth that radiated from it.  
Taking her reaction as consent to continue, Mike stepped closer to her and ran his thumb over her cheek, still staring down at her and marveling at just how beautiful he found her in the dim candlelight when she wasn't scowling at him.  
"I'd never do anything to hurt you." He muttered, causing her to open her eyes and stare up at him once again. "You can trust me."  
"Yeah...I know I can." She replied, swallowing down the lump in her throat and locking her gaze with his. "I...just..."  
"It's fine." Smiled the tall blonde, gently pulling her towards him and resting his other hand on the back of her head as he held her against his firm chest. "We can take things as slow as you need."  
"Who says I even feel that way about you?" Scoffed f/n, raising her eyes towards him but not pulling away from him.   
A smirk slowly spread across Mike's handsome features as he lowered his head to f/n's and inhaled her scent, ignoring infusion of black tea and soap.   
"You're not a very good liar."  
He chuckled quietly when f/n frowned and raised her fist, lightly thumping him in the sternum before allowing him to once more pull her close to him and even going as far as gripping his jacket tightly in her fists to prevent him from escaping too soon.  
Humming lowly in approval, he gently nuzzled her crown before placing a soft kiss on her forehead and staring into her e/c eyes.  
Unfortunately the touching moment was ruined by a loud and impatient voice shouting at them through the thick wood of the door.  
"Oi f/n are you okay in there or what?"  
"I'm fine Levi, I'll be out in a minute." She called back, looking up and Mike and flashing him an apologetic smile.  
"Don't stay out on the battlements too long." He said quietly, gently running the backs of his fingers over her cheek. "It's cold out there tonight."  
"I'll be fine."   
Kissing her forehead one last time, Mike nodded and let go of her.  
A content smile still gracing his lips as she turned away from him and exited the office, quietly closing the door behind her and leaving him to deal with his nightly paperwork before joining Erwin in his office for a drink. 

"Tch, finally!" Snapped Levi, glaring at f/n as she emerged from Mike's office and closed the door.  
"I told you I'd be alright!" Giggled f/n, motioning for him to follow her. "Don't get your cravat in a knot!"  
"So what happened in there? You took your damned time."  
"If by that you mean did he try and force me to do something I wasn't comfortable with, the answer is no he didn't."  
Levi raised an eyebrow as they continued down the torch lit corridor towards the door that would take them up onto the battlements.  
"Besides, I've made my decision about him now so it's done with."  
"Oh?" Levi took hold of f/n's arm and stopped her from going any further. "So what's going on?"  
Inhaling deeply, f/n swallowed hard and looked her best friend full square in the face.  
"I'm giving him a chance." She replied boldly. "Levi...he saved my life on the expedition and he never told anyone that I sneaked into the infirmary to see you or about the time you came and spent the night in the storage shed with me. I honestly believe I can trust him."  
"You're sure about this?" Asked the raven haired male skeptically, the last thing he wanted was to see her get hurt.  
"Yes."  
Clicking his tongue thoughtfully and nodding, he released her arm and started walking again.  
"Alright, just make sure you don't regret it."  
"I won't."  
"If he does anything to hurt you..."  
"You'll be the first person to know, I promise."  
"Good."  
Shaking her head and giggling f/n glanced back in the direction of Mike's office for a brief moment, a small smile gracing her features as she turned away and continued to follow Levi down the corridor.  
For perhaps only the second time in her life, she had been able to find someone who wasn't going to betray her and use her for their own needs.  
Maybe there was hope for her putting the past behind her after all and if that truly was the case, then maybe life here with the Survey Corps wasn't going to be so bad after all.


End file.
